Pfizer (PFE), Merck (MRK) About to Die, Along with (NVS), (LLY), (AZN), (GSK), (FRX)?

To say the outlook for big pharma is bleak would be an understatement, as over the next couple years, major patents for key drugs at Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Merck (NYSE:MRK) Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) and Forest Laboratories (NYSE:FRX).

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has a huge task cut out for it. The company's blockbuster cholesterol treatment Lipitor, which loses patent protection in November, is the highest-selling drug in the world, and now the company has the tough mission of figuring out how to replicate its success.

Lipitor, launched in 1997, has fetched $10 billion in annual revenues to the company since then. The equation, however, would soon change when generic-drug makers begin selling cheaper versions. Plus, Pfizer's patent for Xalatan glaucoma drug also expires in 2011. So what's a huge pharma company to do?

The other victims

Fortunately, Pfizer is not alone in battling patent troubles. Other big pharmaceutical firms are also facing a similar challenge.

Merck's (MRK) asthma drug Singulair goes off-patent in 2012 while Novartis' (NVS) patents on its cancer drug Zometa and hypertension treatment Diovan are set for expiration in 2012. Eli Lilly's (LLY) schizophrenia drug Zyprexa goes off-patent in 2011. AstraZeneca's (AZN) patent on cholesterol drug Crestor is set to expire in 2012. GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Avandia and Forest Laboratories' (FRX) Lexapro are also slated to go off-patent next year. In other words, the patent expiration process is simply another reality of doing business in this particular line of work.

For these drugmakers that have relied heavily on their patented offerings to generate revenue, the next few years appear unusually daunting. One estimate suggests a total of more than 10 medicines would start facing generic competition from this year, resulting in a loss of nearly $50 billion in terms of annual sales of all these medicines put together.




Source