Why Drugmakers Aren’t Sweating the Next Wave of Patent Losses
- Complex drugs, changes in law have slowed down U.S. copycats
- Past ‘patent cliff’ jolted industry; $82 billion in sales lost
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Drugmakers plunged off a patent cliff earlier this decade, losing billions in sales as lucrative branded drugs lost exclusivity. An expensive lobbying effort aimed at preventing a repeat is paying off.
The loss of a series of key patents for cholesterol fighters and other widely used medicines cost big-name drug companies about $82 billion in sales between 2011 and 2013, according to life-sciences data company Evaluate Ltd., forcing large-scale job cuts and a wave of deals to make up for lost revenue.