Mehta S C, Mehta S S
National University of Singapore.
Health Mark Q. 1997;14(3):107-14. doi: 10.1300/J026v14n03_08.
Pharmaceutical companies face a very hostile competitive environment from generic drugs once the patents on their brand name drugs expire. Depending on the country, such patents usually last 10-15 years but no sooner do the patents expire then copies of off-patent brand name drugs, called generics, are introduced, generally by smaller-size and lesser known companies, at significantly lower prices. As health care costs escalate all over the world, efforts to control medication costs have created a major market for generic prescription drugs, particularly in government funded hospitals and in dispensing general practitioner markets of the Asia Pacific and the third world. The world market for generics is estimated at US$20 billion, doubling in only five years and capturing over 30% of the market share. Because of adverse effects on sales and profitability due to the launching of generics, most research based companies that produce original brand-name patented drugs are forced to take counter measures to overcome this problem, particularly when R&D costs for new patents are skyrocketing. This paper develops a brief perspective on this problem and then examines the experiences of many multinational companies in the Singapore market in dealing with the problem. While several different approaches are identified, only one company experience appeared to work successfully and this is discussed in relative detail.
一旦品牌药的专利到期，制药公司就会面临来自仿制药的极为不利的竞争环境。根据不同国家的情况，此类专利通常持续10至15年，但专利一到期，通常由规模较小、知名度较低的公司推出的专利过期品牌药的仿制品（即仿制药）就会以低得多的价格上市。随着全球医疗保健成本的不断攀升，控制药品成本的努力为仿制药创造了一个主要市场，尤其是在亚太地区和第三世界由政府资助的医院以及全科医生配药市场。全球仿制药市场估计为200亿美元，仅在五年内就翻了一番，占据了超过30%的市场份额。由于仿制药的推出对销售和盈利能力产生了不利影响，大多数生产原创品牌专利药的研发型公司被迫采取应对措施来克服这个问题，尤其是在新专利的研发成本飙升之际。本文简要阐述了这一问题，然后考察了许多跨国公司在新加坡市场应对该问题的经验。虽然确定了几种不同的方法，但只有一家公司的经验似乎取得了成功，本文将对此进行较为详细的讨论。
