The Integrated Local CMC Service Provider: Toward a Deep Economy of Pharmaceuticals
CMC Services
Patrick R. Connelly, Sr. Director, Materials Discovery & Characterization Brian P. Quinn, Visiting Scientist Patricia Hurter, VP, Pharmaceutical Development John Condon, Sr. VP, Pharmaceutical Operations Peter Mueller, CSO & Executive VP, Global R&D Vertex Pharmaceuticals
As the dust settled on fiscal year 2009, pharmaceutical executives could be excused for thinking that the industry had avoided a serious crisis. During 2008, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by about one-third, pharmaceutical indices declined by only 18% [1]. Then in 2009, both the Dow Jones as a whole and the pharmaceutical sector in particular recovered roughly 17% [2]. However, by all indications, change is coming. Most of the industry's growth (5% in 2008 [1],the latest year for which complete data are available) is driven by emerging markets; annual U.S. market growth is no more than 1-2% [1]. The patents on pharmaceuticals with a total annual revenue of $119 billion [1] - an amount larger than the entire market capitalization (June 2009) of Pfizer, Google, Coca-Cola, or Goldman Sachs [3] - will expire between 2009 and 2012. And in the current legislative milieu, where fundamental changes to the provision of healthcare are debated throughout the public sphere, the sustainability of current models of financing healthcare can no longer be taken for granted. There is no sign that a commercial environment that once handsomely rewarded overly cautious behavior - for example, the much-criticized reliance on "me-too" pharmaceuticals released into well-served market niches - will live on forever.
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