By doing so, the generic drugmaker limits its exposure to the end of the patent cliff.
FORBES: Actavis Execs May Love NJ, But Ireland Has Lower Taxes
Merck was facing a so-called patent cliff, with the loss of patents covering several large drugs.
FORBES: Does Merck Need To Win The Battle With J&J For Remicade?
Now the company is emerging from the patent cliff with the long-acting-insulin, Lantus, leading the way.
FORBES: Sanofi's CEO On The New York Times' Criticism Of Drug Prices And Surviving The Patent Cliff
More important, research-based drug firms are using a variety of tactics to make the patent cliff slope more gently.
Pharmaceutical companies, currently hanging off "the patent cliff", could also benefit from sharing the data from clinical trials, he said.
The practice involves pharmaceutical manufacturers paying generic manufacturers to delay the release of a generic drug in anticipation of the patent cliff.
Like some peers, it faces a patent cliff with very profitable drugs facing competition from generics, but Lilly spends aggressively to develop replacements.
First off, I think cost cutting is helping the pharmaceutical industry deal with their patent cliff more effectively than the investment community was anticipating.
FORBES: Believe It Or Not, Pfizer, Novartis And Other Pharma Stocks Are Still Undervalued
Big pharma has less cash for deals because the patent cliff and pricing pressures have hit operating cash flows and spending on earlier deals, stock repurchases and dividends.
FORBES: What Firepower? Why Big Drugmakers Can't Do Big Deals
He returns to Novartis as it goes through what pharma insiders call a patent cliff: Novartis sales will be flat this year, the company said, as Diovan goes off patent.
FORBES: Pharma's Philosopher King Rides Into The Sunset: Novartis' Vasella Resigns
Simultaneously, the deal provides further insight into how leading global generics manufacturers are looking to reposition themselves as the patent cliff subsides and the landscape for non-branded products continues to evolve.
We are one of the first companies to emerge from the so-called patent cliff, and the last thing I want is to acquire a declining revenue line which would dilute our future growth profile.
Exactly how much cost drug companies can wring out of their balance sheets as patents expire is one of the key questions facing the pharmaceutical industry as they head over what analysts are calling the patent cliff.
Lipitor is also expected to lose market share at an accelerating pace going forward, which many call the pending patent-cliff.
And he says the pharmaceutical industry is about to fall off a cliff as patent protected revenues disappear in the next few years.
FORBES: Why Facebook Town Hall Shows Obama is Missing the Point on Innovation
Amidst the frantic end-of-year efforts to avoid the fiscal cliff, the Senate approved the House bill with one change (involving pending patent applications filed before 1995).
FORBES: In Its Rush to Fix Patent Reform, Congress Didn't Fix Its Biggest Error
应用推荐