Special Report: Big Pharma's stalled R&D machine

Special Report: Big Pharma's stalled R&D machine

www.reuters.com

One factor forcing Big Pharma to rethink its business model is the huge number of patents that are set to expire over the next five years. As patents run out on blockbuster prescription tablets like Pfizer's $12 billion-a-year cholesterol medicine Lipitor and AstraZeneca's $5 billion heartburn pill Nexium, cut-price generics are sure to rush in and slash margins. Between now and 2015 products with sales of more than $142 billion will face copycat competition, according to IMS Health...

(visit the link for the full news article)

One factor forcing Big Pharma to rethink its business model is the huge number of patents that are set to expire over the next five years. As patents run out on blockbuster prescription tablets like Pfizer's $12 billion-a-year cholesterol medicine Lipitor and AstraZeneca's $5 billion heartburn pill Nexium, cut-price generics are sure to rush in and slash margins. Between now and 2015 products with sales of more than $142 billion will face copycat competition, according to IMS Health, the leading global supplier of prescription drug data. It is the biggest "cliff" of patent expiries in the history of the pharmaceuticals industry.

So, from the new article, it seems Big Pharma is cutting jobs, closing laboratories and expecting some tough competition in following years with the losing of patents.

I guess we will see a whole bunch of new diseases in the following years, so Big Pharma can patent and whole bunch of new drugs.

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Meh, big pharmacy is just a big scam. Glad to see them taking a hit.

No one ever gets better from taking pills, they just get stuck taking the pills.

Yet when we come down with a treatable serious illness or syndrome we want the "latest and greatest" little magic pill. When it's personal "Big Pharma" is suddenly our new Best Friend for Life. And, if it happens to be our child or grandchild with said illness or syndrome we not only want it... we *demand* it.

reply to post by henriquefd


Not only big pharma but big corporations, they are all sucking free money from big brother called research. Any time the big brother tightens the pocket I can hear the screams of these businesses. You just have to have the experience to pay attention to these voices and screams. So don't worry about them. It is the people in the bottom that carry the research and they will always be there.