As the leading global pharmaceutical company, Pfizer continues to focus on manufacture and sale of biopharmaceutical products. Pfizer’s global portfolio includes medicines and vaccines, as well as consumer healthcare products, working across developed and emerging markets in colloboration with healthcare providers, governments and local communities and much less in alliance and co-promotion with other companies. In this highly competitive and regulated industry, which is faced with a series of challenges.
In 2013 fiscal year, Pfizer’s revenue decreased 6% to $51.6 billion, reflecing the operational decline mainly due to continued erosion of star product Lipitor in the U.S.,developed Europe and certain other developed markets, the loss of exclusivity and the ongoing expiration of products in certain countries, and also unfavorably impacted by foreign exchange. The loss or expiration of intellectual property rights and expiration of co-promotion and licensing rights can have a significant adverse effect on revenue. The products have multiple patents that expire at varying dates, thereby strengthening overall patent protection. Once loss of exclusivity happens, generic pharmaceutical manufacturers will produce similar products and sell at lower price. The price competition can substantially decrease the revenue.
Furthermore, healthcare regulation, regulatory environment and pricing and access pressures,pipeline productivity and global economic enviroment are all the relevant factors that collectively determine the performance. The followings are a list of explanations for the above factors.
1.U.S. healthcare legislation can remold the pricing and access approaches by extending drug rebates and discounts or a fee payable to the federa...
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...eries receive the kind of corporate support necessary to advance research beyond the laboratory.
US market is the biggest market in the globe and therefore should be the first concern when promoting the development of a new drug. If choosing an overseas market to develop a new drug outside US, Canada holds the absolute advantage: geographical proximity, homogeneous culture, marketing characteristics, that will facilitate the product adaptation when returning to US market after being developed outside US. Proximity to the Headquater facilitates communication and academic conferences for R&D. Canada’s broader coveraged healthcare system and similar jurisdiction process under common law can be helpful for marketing promotion upon broad collaboration with medical providers and necessary commerical acquisition for technology or marketing channels from other company.
Background: Merck & Co. is an American pharmaceutical company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. In 1971 the United States approved the use of an MMR vaccine made by Merck, containing the Jeryl Lynn strain of mumps vaccine. In 1978 Merck introduced the MMR II, using a different strain of the rubella vaccine. In 1997 the FDA required Merck to conduct effectiveness testing of MMRII. Initially it was over 95%; to continue the license; Merck had to convince the FDA that the effectiveness stayed at a similar rate over the years.
The Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” was designed to assure that all Americans regardless of health status have access to affordable health insurance. The Affordable Car Act was signed into law March 23, 2010. The primary goal of this act was to decrease barriers for obtaining health care coverage and allow Americans to access needed health care services (Affordable Care Act Summary, n.d). After the legislation is fully implemented in 2014, all Americans will be required to have health insurance through their employer, a public program such as Medicaid and/or Medicare or by purchasing insurance through the health insurance marketplace exchange (Affordable Care Act Summary, n.d). I will identify three parts of The Affordable Care Act that I believe are important. First, I will talk about the requirement that insurance companies are no longer able to deny coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions. Secondly, I will explain why physician payments are being shifted to value over volume. Lastly, I will discuss Medicaid expansion and why some states are not expanding at all.
Why do consumers purchase specific drugs for various ailments, sicknesses or diseases they might have? Why do physicians prescribe certain drugs over competitive drugs that may be available to the public? Why is it that most of us can easily name specific drugs that fit the many ailments of today’s society? On the surface the answer might be as simple as good TV advertising or radio commercials or even internet adds. The truth of matter is the major pharmaceutical manufacturers own the patents on these drugs and this gives them all of the marketing budget and muscle they need to promote the drug and control the pricing. The incentives for larger pharmaceutical companies are very enticing and as a result, they don’t mind spending the time in clinical trials and patent courts to get their drugs approved. Some will even get patents on the process by which the drug is manufactured, ensuring that no competitor can steal the drug or the process. This protects their large financial investment and nearly guarantees a large return for their investors. Many consumer rights groups claim this is nothing more than legalizing monopolies for the biggest manufacturers.
The Bundled payment is defined as the reimbursement of health care providers on the basis of expected costs for clinically defined episodes of care. It has been considered as a middle ground between fee for service reimbursement and capitation system. Bundled payment has been proposed in health care reforms in the United States as a strategy for reducing health care costs, especially during the Obama administration (Mechanic & Altman 2009). While federal and state health care laws make bundled payments difficult to structure and implement, both the Medicare program and commercial payers have embraced bundled payments as a means for reducing costs, and many providers view bundled payments as an effective market strategy and a gateway to population management and more complex value-based payment arrangements (Moeller & Evans 2010).
The United States (U.S.) has a health care system that is much different than any other health care system in the world (Nies & McEwen, 2015). It is frequently recognized as one with most recent technological inventions, but at the same time is often criticized for being overly expensive (Nies & McEwen, 2015). In 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (U. S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.) This plan was implemented in an attempt to make preventative care more affordable and accessible for all uninsured Americans (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.). Under the law, the new Patient’s Bill of Rights gives consumers the power to be in charge of their health care choices. (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.).
Threat of new entrants is relatively high. Companies forming alliances are potential rivals. Even if earlier such company was not considered to be a threat, after merging with some research and development company or forming alliance with another pharmaceutical company it would become a rival to Eli Lilly. The threat is however weakened by significant research and development costs necessary to successfully enter the business. Eli Lilly’s focus on a relatively narrow market of sedatives and antidepressants weakens the threat of new entrants, but other products that form lesser part of company’s sales such as insulin and others are exposed to high threat of new entrants. The need of obtaining certificates and licenses also weakens the threat of new entrants. Discussed above leads to the conclusion that threat of new entrants is medium.
In America the affordability and equality of access to healthcare is a crucial topic of debate when it comes to one's understanding of healthcare reform. The ability for a sick individual to attain proper treatment for their ailments has reached the upper echelons of government. Public outcry for a change in the handling of health insurance laws has aided in the establishment of the Affordable Healthcare Law (AHCL) to ensure the people of America will be able to get the medical attention they deserve as well as making that attention more affordable, as the name states. Since its creation, the AHCL has undergone scrutiny towards its effects on the government and its people; nevertheless, the new law must not be dismantled due to its function as a cornerstone of equal-opportunity healthcare, and if such a removal is allowed, there will be possibly detrimental effects on taxes, the economy, and poor people.
This fact validates the incentive pharmaceutical companies have to get a patent and acquire more power. Pfizer encourages R&D because of the incentives and a desire to obtain patents to receive more profit. Pfizer has to promote itself to be successful, creating a brand image that consumers will trust. If the company can advertise successfully, more consumers will purchase their products. Pfizer must also be generating products efficiently in order to save and use existing resources, while manufacturing their products at low costs to stay competitive....
Make sure the provider achieves high quality metrics. Many third-party payers, as well as the Affordable Care Act of 2010 is placing emphasis on patients receiving a high-level quality of care. Ensuring that the provider can reach those high levels will increase their chances of negotiating a favorable contract.
Since its humble beginning as a small drugstore, Merck has placed a large amount of importance on improving the health and well-being of its customers. As drug patents expire and genetic forms of their top products become available, Merck’s strategy is to do the unexpected; instead of raising the price of their older products in favor of patent protected new drugs, Merck focuses on reducing their cost in order to better compete with their generic counterparts. Additionally, Merck’s plan for growth now encompasses a much more aggressive pursuit of new drugs in their pipeline through extensive research. Merck became the second largest health care company in the world after the merger with Schering-Plough in 2009 and has contributed great discoveries like the first cervical cancer vaccine and great resources like the Merck Manuals which are utilized as a source of information to doctors, scientists and consumers worldwide .
Over the years the company has survived by focusing on its internal development in addition to a series of mergers, acquisitions, and corporate restructurings. Being a pharmaceutical company, the entire population is impacted: patients, physicians, employees, hospitals, and investors are some of the most important stakeholders. We first began our analysis of Novartis by evaluating the company’s strategic direction. Novartis’ mission statement is to care and to cure. They are a company that wants to discover, develop, and successfully market innovative products to prevent and cure disease, to ease suffering, and to enhance the quality of life.
The United States health care system is one of the most expensive systems in the world yet it is known as being unorganized and chaotic in comparison to other countries (Barton, 2010). This factor is attributed to numerous characteristics that define what the U.S. system is comprised of. Two of the major indications are imperfect market conditions and the demand for new technology (Barton, 2010). The health care system has been described as a free market in
Janssen is a division of Johnson and Johnsons that primarily focus on diseases that can help develop new strategies in improving prevention as well as developing vaccines and its accessibility to the world. The pharmaceutical company of J&J invests large amounts of money in research and development of its products. The competitive environment of Johnson and Johnson is very high for pharmaceutical companies due to which that many companies are releasing drug products and other devices. However, this company does not face any potential competitors due to which that it is a large company that provides a wide range of opportunities such as finances, and experiences. This leads to advantages compared to other competitors due to whom the pharmaceutical companies creates a barrier because of the high cost in research and development in medicine. In addition, Johnson and Johnson have to make sure that it has many suppliers for different categories for their products especially in medicine if one supplier causes shortages. Although suppliers do not bargain for the price values of its products, it still influences the price in the market in different countries. In addition, finding
For commodity generic drugs, Teva has an opportunity to expand its core business into emerging markets, but there it will have to face institutional voids because such markets are driven by physicians and both physician and other people are not aware about the effectiveness of generic drugs. To cope with the challenge of institutional voids Teva have to look for some competent small pharmaceutical firms for acquisition and some big firms for the joint venture. For changing the perceptions of people and physicians, Teva will require to run marketing campaigns and direct approaches to physicians to develop a market for their products.
In addition to this, pharmaceutical companies can also regulate the price of the drug as they will be the only company selling that drug. However, these aspects of patents can adversely affect the generics industry. The generics industry cannot make or sell drugs that are patented but once a patent licence expires, both the generics industry and the WHO see increased benefits as drugs become more widely available around the world (i.e. developing countries) at a lower price. Here we will discuss the pros and cons of patents from the point of view of the pharmaceutical industry, the generics industry and the WHO. As we said above, patents grant exclusive rights to an invention or a process of making and invention.