"Patent Cliff" Takes Toll on Drug Sales
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Sales of Plavix and Seroquel dipped in the second quarter due to loss of patent protection. Other top brands such as Singulair, Actos and Diovan are also due to be impacted by year's end, said a report today from Drugs.com, which tracks prescription sales data for the top 100 drugs.
Proton-pump inhibitors, antipsychotics, asthma therapeutics and statins remain the top-selling categories. AstraZeneca's (NYSE: AZN) Nexium claimed the top spot with over $1.38 billion in sales, overtaking Plavix, which dropped to ninth. Other top drugs included Abilify, Singulair, Advair Diskus, and Crestor. Singulair sales showed a large quarter-over-quarter gain. However, competition is on the horizon with the first generic versions of Singulair (montelukast) approved by the FDA in early August.
Escitalopram, the generic version of Forest's (NYSE: FRX) Lexapro, made the largest gain, almost doubling from the previous quarter to close with $416 million in sales.
Dollar losses in Q2 2012 were unprecedented, noted the report. Seroquel forfeits close to 86 percent, or over $1 billion in sales and plummets 95 spots in sales ranking due to loss of patent protection. Lipitor and its generic counterpart atorvastatin, which posted the number-one sales gain in Q1 2012, both closed the quarter with sales losses.
"Medicines appearing at the top of the sales data for the second quarter show a strong brand presence, reinforcing the impact of research and development across multiple disease states," said Philip Thornton, CEO of Drugs.com. "However, as many top brands face patent expiration over the next few years, a reduction in sales of affected medicines will be inevitable - with each expiration contributing to the phenomenon colloquially referred to as the 'patent cliff.'"
Proton-pump inhibitors, antipsychotics, asthma therapeutics and statins remain the top-selling categories. AstraZeneca's (NYSE: AZN) Nexium claimed the top spot with over $1.38 billion in sales, overtaking Plavix, which dropped to ninth. Other top drugs included Abilify, Singulair, Advair Diskus, and Crestor. Singulair sales showed a large quarter-over-quarter gain. However, competition is on the horizon with the first generic versions of Singulair (montelukast) approved by the FDA in early August.
Escitalopram, the generic version of Forest's (NYSE: FRX) Lexapro, made the largest gain, almost doubling from the previous quarter to close with $416 million in sales.
Dollar losses in Q2 2012 were unprecedented, noted the report. Seroquel forfeits close to 86 percent, or over $1 billion in sales and plummets 95 spots in sales ranking due to loss of patent protection. Lipitor and its generic counterpart atorvastatin, which posted the number-one sales gain in Q1 2012, both closed the quarter with sales losses.
"Medicines appearing at the top of the sales data for the second quarter show a strong brand presence, reinforcing the impact of research and development across multiple disease states," said Philip Thornton, CEO of Drugs.com. "However, as many top brands face patent expiration over the next few years, a reduction in sales of affected medicines will be inevitable - with each expiration contributing to the phenomenon colloquially referred to as the 'patent cliff.'"
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