The Return to Large Markets

In this decade, a significant revenue challenge awaits many leading pharmaceutical companies, as approximately half of the world’s top 20 drugs are expected to lose patent protection. To bridge this revenue gap, the industry will rely on new “blockbuster” launches. As a result, some of the leading pharma companies are starting to move away from highly profitable niche indications and rare disease business models including the highly anticipated cell and gene therapy science. They are simply not large enough to bolster the big pharma revenue model. This represents good news for emerging biotech companies focused on primary care and large specialty markets, as there will likely be increased interest from big pharma to partner, co-develop, or acquire. This shift also opens doors to develop drugs for large indications addressing substantial public health needs around the globe.