Things are looking up for generics: the recent approvals and victories
Generic drug manufacturers scored another victory this week. On 5 Sept 2007, the US FDA announced the approval of the first generic versions of GlaxoSmithKline’s Coreg (carvedilol). In total, 14 drug companies were given the go signal to market their Coreg-like generics indicated for the treatment hypertension, heart failure, and left ventricular dysfunction following myocardial infarction.
Last month, the FDA approved the Israeli drug company Teva’s application to market a generic form of Famvir (famciclovir), an antiviral drug used to treat genital herpes. Famvir is a patented product of the pharmaceutical giant Novartis.
Last week, a Swiss court approved the application of the generic manufacturer Mepha to continue the marketing of the generic version of Fosamax (alendronate), a drug indicated for the treatment of osteoporosis developed by Merck, Sharp & Dohme.
Although patent litigations are still ongoing between the major players in the field, the generics companies are already making headways in the pharmaceutical industry. These recent developments will benefit grateful consumers but put the big pharmaceutical companies at a disadvantage.
2 Comments
- PharMed News » Blog Archive » Tough times ahead for big pharma? replied:
[…] The reasons for the bad prognosis are expiration of patents coinciding with shrinking pipelines and increasing competition from generics. Furthermore, the counterstrategy of mergers and acquisition isn’t seems to be working as expected. […]
May 31st, 2008 at 12:21 pm. Permalink.
- Cardiovascular studies is on the decline | Battling Heart and Stroke replied:
[…] Does this mean that the incidence of cardiovascular diseases has decreased significantly that they are no longer a major health threat? Unfortunately, this is not the case. Many pharmaceutical companies feel that the profitable days of statins and beta-blockers are coming to an end as one drug after another, including the blockblusters Coreg and Lipitor, lost or will soon be losing its patent. With each drug going off patent, generic versions are already waiting at the sidelines to grab the market. […]
November 17th, 2008 at 11:06 pm. Permalink.