Benchmarking Best Practice at Patent Expiry in Europe - Maximizing Return on Investment of Late-Stage Lifecycle Management

Introduction

Successfully managing the lifecycle of molecules within marketed portfolios is an essential capability for the pharma industry. With R&D productivity stalling, and profit margins increasingly eroded by cost containment initiatives, maximizing the return on investment of in-line brands, by extending the time on the market without generic competition, is a key objective for pharmaceutical companies.

Scope

• Analysis of Datamonitor’s Patent Expiry Database of between 37 and 46 patent expiries in each of the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain
• Primary research with 100 hospital and retail pharmacists across the five major European markets
• Recommendations for market-specific best practice strategies at patent expiry, based on case studies and future focused environmental assessment
• Analysis of the capabilities of 65 generics players operating in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy

Highlights

The introduction of German reference price groups containing on- and off-patent brands has major implications for use of 2nd generation launches as a franchise protection strategy. If the follow-on product is not a significant improvement over the original, it risks having its reimbursement price linked to generic versions of the old molecule.

Despite the smaller number of generics companies launching generic injectables in Europe, analysis indicates injectables suffer no less generic erosion than oral products. Originator companies with injectable brands cannot expect to be shielded from full force of generic competition simply because fewer manufacturers have injectable capabilities.

Payers are the most influential stakeholders in most of the five major European markets, limiting the effectiveness of physician targeted brand protection strategies. France is the exception, where patient and physician brand loyalty has the potential to maintain sales of the branded product in the post-patent environment.

Reasons to Purchase

• Identify the optimal late stage lifecycle management strategy for your brand
• Identify the key stakeholders to target to secure success of your chosen brand protection strategy
• Predict the impact of patent expiry on a brand, assisting with brand business planning or generic target identification