Between 2011 and 2015, Big Pharma – a peer set of approximately 16 firms across the world with large R&D and sales organizations, and sales valued at $10bn or more – signed over 1,100 drug-focused deals, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 10%.
Between 2012 and 2016, Big Pharma – a peer set of approximately 16 firms across the world with large R&D and sales organizations, and annual revenues in excess of $10bn – signed over 1,200 drug-focused deals, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 12%.
An analysis of the drug-focused licensing deals (out-licensing and in-licensing) made by Big Pharma companies shows an uptick in partnering from 2014 to 2015, followed by a slight decrease in 2016 that has held steady through 2018. Despite that slight decline, the peer set increased deal volume by roughly 15% between the beginning and the end of the five-year period. Total deal values rose even more, roughly 25%.
Biosimilar competition is providing payers with opportunities to contain costs in a category that accounts for a significant proportion of total drug expenditure. The launch of the biosimilar insulin Basaglar is a threat to the insulin-based product market, which includes long-time reference product Lantus as well as newer entrants Toujeo and Tresiba. More aggressive payers are excluding branded insulin products in favor of the less expensive biosimilar, forcing switches in existing patient populations. As such, manufacturers of branded insulin products will need to offer deeper discounts to remain on payers’ formularies and contracts.
Biosimilars are expected to drive significant cost savings for healthcare systems, yet there are many considerations that will affect the success of biosimilars, ranging from clinical development, regulatory approval, and ongoing legal disputes around patents. In the US, this is still a seminal period, and for that reason the potential effects of biosimilars in terms of levels of competition are still too early to gauge. Still, European experience with biosimilars may give an indication as to how market dynamics will play out and the degree to which biosimilar sponsors may discount their biosimilars in the US.
With the approval of the first CAR-T therapies – Novartis’ Kymriah and Gilead/Kite’s Yescarta – what had been the promise of cutting-edge science is now reality.
Data plays a key role in healthcare systems’ shifts towards value-focused outcomes. Such data includes outcomes and cost data, adherence data, and increasingly, patient-reported data, behavioral and social media data.
Immuno-oncology continues to draw pharma companies to the deal table.
Pharmaceutical companies are attempting to maximize value from all angles, including internal investment in R&D and externalization via deal-making.
Gene therapy has undergone transformative enhancements over the last 20 years, with improvements to technologies and advances in the pipeline that aim to invigorate the field in its second generation.
Immuno-oncology is an emerging field in medicine that has the potential to radically change how cancer is treated. The Big Pharma and Mid Pharma peer sets are an integral part of development and have been furthering efforts via deal-making.
Immuno-oncology is an emerging field in medicine that has the potential to radically change how cancer is treated.
In order to continually and effectively compete with its peers, as well as with smaller specialty pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies, the top 20 global pharmaceutical peer set turns to deal-making as a means to balance out its internally developed portfolio, and to take advantage of the broader capabilities of partners or takeover targets.
Total sales from the mid pharma peer set amounted to $69.4bn in 2011; by the end of 2012, this figure rose by 1.6% to $71.0bn. During 2012 the peer set constituents exhibited varying degrees of sales growth.
This analysis includes insights from eight interviewed experts from pharma, medical device, or digital health companies.
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