Editor's Blog

Tough competition

The battle between generics and branded products has been going on for a long time: the claims and counter claims over Aspirin, for example, have been in process since the early 20th century. The patent system, introduced to help bring order to this chaos, allows drug developers a limited-time patent for each innovative product they develop, so they can recoup their initial investment. After the patent expires, similar, unbranded drugs are introduced into the market, bringing lower prices for those not fussy about what it says on the label. For a while, the system seemed to work, but lately things have changed. The pharmaceutical industry as a whole is facing some tough challenges: blockbusters – on which many big companies depend for the majority of their income – have become harder to find, many major diseases already have multiple treatments, pipelines are drying up. Add the global recession on top of that, and you can see why many companies are looking to boost their bottom lines in any way they can. One of those ways is playing tougher with their generics-producing counterparts. In the US, where President Obama is trumpeting greater production of generics as a way of cutting healthcare costs, some companies have even taken the step of introducing generic copies of their own drugs, before the patents on the originals have expired. This can help counter the tactic used by certain generics producers, who bring out copycat versions of drugs while their patents are still valid, depending on the slowness of the American legal system to allow them ample time to make a profit. Here in Europe, it is the developers of branded products have been accused of not playing fair. Last year, the European Commission launched an inquiry into the European pharmaceutical sector, citing as one of its reasons a delay in generic medicines reaching the market. According to the Commission’s final report, released in early July, manufacturers of branded drugs have been using what it calls ‘delaying strategies’ to block the release of generic products. Who will come out on top? The answer may lie in an unexpected quarter: globalisation. The pharmaceutical industry, whose main source of profits has long been North America and Western Europe, is now increasingly venturing into new markets, where patent protection often doesn’t exist and all drugs must compete on a level playing field. It could be this, more than anything else, that determine the next stage of the game.

Stormy weather

The pharmaceutical industry has been having a bit of a bumpy ride lately. Mergers, layoffs, cost-cutting exercises – it seems we are not immune to the stormy effects of the global financial crisis after all.

The world is getting smaller

Stem cell breakthrough

Exciting news on the stem cell research front: at Imperial College London, researchers have triggered the release of extra stem cells in mice.