Perpetual Innovation

Category: patent cliff

  • Happy Days are near, but yet so far away, for Generic Viagra

    The discussion on when pharma patents expire is often long and tortuous.
    The the ED world of Viagra and Cialis we discuss the 2017 patent cliff here.
    True, Cialis patent(s) expire in 2017, so it is reasonable to expect the influx of generics soon… Here’s a list of patents related to Cialis. Note that there are a lot of patents listed that go all the way to 2020.

    Here is a great discussion about the expiration of Phara patents related to Viagra. One of the main patents in viagra falls into the 1995 rule where the expiration date is computed based on the longer of the old method (17 years from issue) and the new method (20 years from first filing date). The 20 years method would be long gone. It probably took Pfizer some very fancy footwork to delay issue of the Viagra patent for almost 10 years from first filing, so the 17 years method computes longest and works best for Viagra. Plus, they got a term extension, so the patent doesn’t expire until April of 2020.

    But generic Viagra. A settlement with the giant of generics, Teva, allows Teva to sell a generic version of Viagra starting in December of 2017. But Teva must pay royalties to Pfizer. Pfizer recently raised prices, presumably to game this whole competition thing ensuing in 2017.

    Levitra faces expiration of patents in 2018.

    Great discussion on all these ED drugs is here at AccessRX.

    Of course you could use another drug that is “a rose by another name”: Revatio. Consumer Reports on Revatiois not in the business of making medical advised, but they suggest the the Revatio blood pressure drug might possibly work in the same way as Viagra since is contains the same active ingredient (sildenafil). 

    There is also a move to try to make the ED drugs an over-the-counter thing. Hmmm.

  • Viagra/Cialis Patents soon to fall on hard times in a Generic World

    Viagra to go Generic in 2017.
    2017 is going to be a good year for cheap(er) sex. First off, Cialis will fall off of the patent cliff. In the same year, Teva has negotiated with Pfizer to introduce a  generic version of the little blue pill. So guys will no longer have to pay $10 per pill for a good (or better) time. Since the hard costs of Viagra are so low, a very optimistic guy could buy a years worth of 365 pills for the price of the current 10 or 20 pill prescription.

    For some reason, I thought that the big patents for Viagra expired in 2015 and 2016, respectively. This article talks about 2020. But, if Cialis goes generic in 2017 —  and it works to leave a guy always in idle mode — then Viagra will find itself is serious price and market share pressure. The key Viagra patents were disallowed in Canada, so cheap pills are simply a phone or a Niagara trip away.

    Each of the last 5 or 6 years has resulted in major patent cliffs for big block-buster drugs. Big Pharma has been trying hard to replace the lost revenues.

    The active ingredients in Viagra is sildenafil citrate. The high costs of Cialis and Viagra lead some guys to buys stuff online from sources that have various degrees of credibility, reliability and varied levels of efficacy.  This seems like a hard way to meet the needs of an active love life.

    At least no one should feel the need to rut through the horns of elk or saw off the horns of rhinoceros to get that extra little pick-me-up for their love life. They should be able to simply pop into the latest pharma and buy it.

  • Pfizer says U.S. court invalidates Celebrex patent; generics loom — Reuters

    Pfizer — U.S. court invalidates Celebrex patent; generics loom | Reuters:

    Ouch!:-(

    Knocking the block of of the buster.

    Pfizer is taking a big hit with this court ruling against Celebrex patent. Surprisingly, the stock price, not so much so. Almost not even a jitter as it stays around $32 per share.

    That’s $3B in annual sales with $2B in the US (relevant to the US court ruling, obviously).

    IF the company repeats its $51B in sales from last year (revenues have been dropping over the last 3 years) then that represents about 4% to 6% of the companies sales. But it has to represent a huge hit to the bottom line, let’s say 8% to 15%. (It doesn’t take much to milk the cash cows; it does however, take a lot of money to invent the cow, clone it, raise the herd to maturity, and then milk each cow for all she’s got for about 20 years.)

    It look like the patent would have expired in 2015 anyway, so there would be generics already sitting on the sidelines (or the storefront in other countries).

    This must have been totally expected. It is hard to imaging a $204B company (based on market cap) that doesn’t take a serious tumble when one of its blockbuster products takes a hit.

    It is blockbuster patents in Big Pharma going off patent like this that contribute to the slowing of Healthcare spending. That’s right. Healthcare spending has only been increasing at about 4% over the last couple years. A big part of that is the patent cliff for big pharma drugs.

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  • Oxycontin Expires today, April 16 2013. The “Patent Cliff” is not here on this one.

    » The “Patent Cliff” and its Effects upon Workers’ Compensation Claims:

    The Oxycontin patent expires today. 

    So you would expect to be able to buy many people’s favorite drug on the side of the road or on hill-tops, just above cliff level.

    As with many things that are FDA approved and regulated, this is going to be a very slow ride down from the cliff, definitely not a one-time drop off.

    First, this drug is highly abused and strongly regulated by the FDA. The FDA will have to approve any other generic drug… And the new (non-new) generic version will be regulated along with Oxycontin.

    The manufacturer, Purdue, is trying to get a 6 month extension on the patent, in part because of tamper-proof nature of the way they think the drug should be sold in the future.

    In short, the downward slope of the Oxycontin slope is not a cliff. It is not a Black Diamond. It is probably going to be more of a bunny slope… With not much competition and higher prices for several years.

    Of course, if you are buying it on the black market, you wouldn’t want a knock off, right?

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  • Top 15 drug patent losses for 2013 – … And Viagra…

    Top 15 drug patent losses for 2013 – FiercePharma:

    In the usual search of the BIG patents that are about to drop off the cliff, it is always fun to see what comes up.

    This is a great assessment of the 2013 Patent Cliff.

    Wanna see what’s in store for the the next 4-5 years check out this report and forecast for pharma patents through 2018 by EvaluatePharma: http://www.evaluatepharma.com/worldpreview2018.aspx

    Just reviewing the past couple years you will see Plavix and Lipitor going off patent with more than $5B in annual sales. Wow. Look at this from 2011: The 10 Biggest-Selling Drugs That Are About to Lose Their Patent – DailyFinance: “Plavix”

    But I got tripped up in the Viagra and its patent status. Check out this article from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20258639

    Pfizer lost its Viagra patent in Canada. The Supreme court there was unforgiving in the approach that was taken in the patent to mention everything including the kitchen sink, not primarily focus on the only active ingredient  The court thought that this was a poor attempt at “gaming” the patent process and seemed rather less than entertained. Ouch!.

    In Canada the patent was due to expire in 2014 anyway.  Seems that the main patent in the US will go public domain in 2018.

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