Deutsche Welle, 23 october 2012
Drug makers
are on the brink of a "patent cliff" - many are losing the exclusive
rights to produce some of their most popular drugs. Profits will drop off and
so too could new research.
It is
estimated that pharmaceutical companies will have lost more than $267 billion
(205 billion euros) once a raft of patents have expired by 2016.
Some widely
used drugs have already been affected.
Last year,
Pfizer lost exclusive rights to produce its blockbuster drug, Lipitor - used
for reducing blood cholesterol. And this year, Bristol-Myers Squibb and
Sanofi's patent on the blood thinning drug Plavix has expired.
The loss in
sales from drugs like Lipitor and Plavix are expected to result in cuts to
research into new drugs for diseases like Alzheimer's. It is part of a worrying
trend in the pharmaceutical industry, according to Christa Müller, who heads
the Pharmaceutical Institute at Bonn University.
"Some
have spent huge amounts of money on Alzheimer's research in the past ten years
and many projects have proven to be unsuccessful," says Müller.
In August,
Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer pulled the plug on a joint new treatment for
Alzheimer's, which had already cost the two companies more than a billion
dollars.
An
unprecedented challenge
For a long
time, pharmaceutical companies have relied on profits from their most popular
drugs to enable them to invest in developing newer drugs.
The work
that goes into researching, trialing and marketing a new drug can be as much as
$1.5 billion.
 |
| Strict regulations are often also blamed for discouraging new research |
With
further patents on commonly used drugs expiring, or heading towards expiry,
their original makers are likely to see their profits drop massively. They will
face greater competition from other producers, who could begin to make cheaper,
generic versions of their drugs.
Generics
can to be cheaper - sometimes up to 90 percent cheaper.
A 30 day
supply of Valium costs an estimated $157. But the same supply in generic form -
for instance, Diazepam, costs just $1.82.
Some say
drug makers are set to lose a lot of money, and this is making them cautious
about investing in new research.
"If
one company is working on a specific drug target, [another company] won't do it
as well because they will be afraid that if they're number two on the market,
they will not get back what they invested - drug research has become so
expensive," Müller says.
But despite
a trend away from research into neurodegenerative diseases - they are seen as
too difficult to crack - Bonn University's Pharmaceutical Institute has been
able to continue its own research in the field.
They have
conducted successful studies into receptors - cell molecules responsible for
receiving external signals in the brain. Müller explains her research into
receptors could be used in the development of drugs that target specific cells
and repair them to stave off the worst of Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.
"It's
easier to get funding for a disease like Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's
disease where there is a big need to get new drugs," Müller insists.
Generics
increasingly significant
Tropical
diseases are also popular research areas.
The
Pharmaceutical Institute hopes to get funding for a planned network with
African institutes to research tropical diseases like malaria and
Schistosomiasis (bilharzia).
 |
| India is now home to one of the world's largest generics manufacturers, Ranbaxy Laboratories |
Whereas
some western drug makers are cutting back, Africa's pharmaceutical industry is
growing, much like in Asia and Latin America.
Tinotenda
Sachikonye, an analyst at Frost and Sullivan, says the focus in Africa is
shifting from over-the-counter (OTC) medicines like painkillers (aspirin or
ibuprofen) to treatments for diseases, like diabetes and cancer.
"The
local manufacturers in Nigeria contribute to about 30 percent of all
manufacturing revenues in the country, so they've got quite a strong local
manufacturing base," Sachikonye says.
Drug
production levels are approaching similar levels in other countries like Kenya
and Tanzania.
But
Sachikonye says there is barely any research into new drugs in Africa as
generics represent as much as 70 percent of all the drugs produced.
Generics
are also taking on increasing significance in Europe.
A report
from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations
suggests spending on generics will rise from $242 billion in 2011 to $430
billion by 2016 in Europe because of the growth in emerging markets and a
general transition to generics in developed nations.
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment