FROM VISION TO DECISION PHARMA 2020 - PWC

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FROM VISION TO DECISION PHARMA 2020 - PWC
Pharma’s future has never looked more promising – or more ominous.
     Major scientific, technological and socioeconomic changes will revive
     the industry’s fortunes in another decade, but capitalising on these
     trends will entail making crucial decisions first

From vision
to decision
Pharma 2020

                                        www.pwc.com/pharma2020
Contents

Introduction                                                  1
Chapter 1 The best of times, the worst of times               2
Chapter 2 The mature markets: Maximising the molecule         8
Chapter 3 The growth markets: Hot, cold, hard to get right   18
Chapter 4 R&D: Beautiful hypotheses, ugly facts              24
Chapter 5 Portfolio management: Choosing the best jam        32
Chapter 6 Corporate culture: Culprit and cure?               38
Chapter 7 Conclusion: From vision to decision                42
References                                                   43
Key national indicators                                      48
Acknowledgements                                             50
Contacts		                                                   51
Many of the conditions that will determine what happens
               in 2020 are already in place. But does that mean pharma’s
               fate is sealed? Far from it!

Introduction   Major scientific and technological
               advances, coupled with sociodemographic
                                                             • Cultural sclerosis
                                                                The prevailing management culture,
               changes, increasing demand for medicines         mental models and strategies on which
               and trade liberalisation, will revive            the industry relies are the same ones
               pharma’s fortunes in another 10 years            it’s traditionally relied on, even though
               and deliver dramatic improvements in             they’ve been eclipsed by new ways
               patient care. But if the industry is to          of doing business.
               prosper in the future, it must first make
               sure it has a future.                         Of course, many of the conditions that
                                                             will determine what happens in 2020
               We’ve outlined our vision of what lies        are already in place. Most, if not all,
               ahead in previous Pharma 2020 papers.         of the products that will be launched
               The theme of our latest paper is decisions:   by then are already in the pipeline.
               the decisions pharma companies will           Similarly, many of the senior executives
               need to make between now and the              who will be at the helm have already
               end of the decade to capitalise on the        been earmarked for high office or
               opportunities the next decade holds.          appointed. And changing the culture
                                                             of a large organisation can take years.
               We believe the industry faces three
               fundamental challenges:                       But does that mean pharma’s fate
                                                             is sealed? Far from it!
               •	Rising customer expectations
                  The commercial environment is getting      We believe there are various things
                  harsher. Healthcare payers are             companies can do both to increase
                  imposing new cost constraints on           their chances of reaching 2020 and to
                  providers and are scrutinising the value   ready themselves for more favourable
                  of medicines more carefully. They want     conditions thereafter. In the following
                  new therapies that are clinically and      pages, we’ll look at how to maximise
                  economically better than the existing      the value of new and existing medicines,
                  alternatives, together with hard,          develop business models for the growth
                  real-world outcomes data to back any       markets, improve scientific productivity
                  claims about a medicine’s superiority.     and reinvigorate the corporate culture.
                                                             We’ll focus on the areas where the most
               •	Poor scientific productivity               important decisions must be made.
                  Pharma’s output has flatlined for the
                  past decade. Yet the processes it uses
                  to discover and develop new products
                  remain much the same. So there’s little
                  reason to think its productivity will
                  suddenly soar.

                                                                                From vision to decision   1
The best of times, the                                                         Inexpensive gene sequencing will let
                                                                                   doctors diagnose and treat patients

    worst of times
                                                                                   based on information about their
                                                                                   individual genomes. And, by 2020,
                                                                                   genetic testing will be part of mainstream
                                                                                   medical practice in some countries.
    “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was
    the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was                       Technological developments have also
                                                                                   paved the way for electronic medical
    the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity….”                        record (EMR) systems that capture vast
    Charles Dickens                                                                quantities of outcomes data. Numerous
                                                                                   healthcare providers in the mature and
                                                                                   growth markets alike are building the
                                                                                   necessary infrastructure. Meanwhile,
                                     The opening words to Charles Dickens’s        with sophisticated data sharing, processing
                                     novel A Tale of Two Cities perfectly          and mining techniques, scientists can
                                     encapsulate the situation pharma              easily collaborate and make better sense
                                     finds itself in right now. The outlook        of what they see.
                                     has never seemed more promising –
                                     or more ominous.                              In effect, two changes are taking place
                                                                                   concurrently. Our technologies for
                                     The best of times                             collecting biological data are improving
                                     Let’s start with the good news: a rapidly     by many orders of magnitude. Our
                                     strengthening scientific base, growing        technologies for synthesising and
                                     demand for medicines and the removal          analysing that data are also becoming
                                     of former impediments to free trade.          much cheaper and more efficient.
                                                                                   Together, these advances will help
                                     A strengthening scientific base               pharma break through some of the
                                     The scientific foundation on which            barriers that have previously held it back
                                     pharma rests is improving exponentially,      (see box, Big data’s big dividends).3
                                     thanks to massive increases in processing
                                     power; advances in genetics and               The progress we’ve already made
                                     genomics; and new data management             in understanding breast cancer is
                                     tools. For the last half-century, computers   a quintessential example. For many
                                     have been doubling in performance             years scientists thought breast cancer
                                     and capacity every 18 months. This            was a single disease. Then, in 1990,
                                     revolution has transformed biomedical         researchers discovered the first gene
                                     research. In 2001, it cost US$95 million      to be associated with hereditary breast
                                     to read an entire human genome.1 Today,       cancer. Now they’ve succeeded in teasing
                                     two leading manufacturers are developing      apart differences in DNA to identify
                                     machines that can do so for as little as      10 subtypes, each with a unique genetic
                                     $1,000 – in a matter of hours.2               fingerprint (see Figure 1).4

2   Pharma 2020
Big data’s big dividends

   One industry marketer recently                                  and query technologies – the industry
   remarked: “Every patient experience                             will be able to develop more effective,
   now generates rivers of data which, if                          personalised medicines. It will also
   pooled intelligently, can trace a detailed                      be able to shift the focus from reaction
   portrait of a patient’s health and, when                        to prevention.
   aggregated with other patient data
   streams, can coalesce into deep                                 Several companies have already
   reservoirs of knowledge about entire                            started exploiting this trend. Genomic
   disease states and patient populations.”                        research firm CardioDX analysed more                              This leap in our knowledge has transformed
                                                                   than 100 million gene samples to identify                         the prognosis for women with breast
   That’s the promise of ‘big data’, and                           the 23 primary predictive genes for                               cancer. The five-year relative survival rate
   the deluge is increasing all the time.                          coronary artery disease. It’s now                                 has soared from 63% in the early 1960s
   We create about 2.5 million terabytes                           developed a test that can identify coronary                       to 90%, and most of the improvement has
   of data a day. Pervasive monitoring                             artery disease in its earliest stages.                            taken place in the last two decades.5
   and ‘anywhere interface’ technologies
   that turn a rigid surface into an interface                     Meanwhile, US data and lab testing                                A better understanding of disease has
   with an electronic device will make it                          service company Medivo is mining                                  produced new medicines, diagnostics
   easier still to collect huge quantities                         laboratory records for patient and                                and lines of research. Take Benlysta,
   of data on how patients respond to                              disease insights. It’s consolidated data                          one of the first treatments to come from
   different treatments. Combine that                              from more than 50 million patients in                             mapping the human genome and the
   with ubiquitous gene sequencing and                             a simple, easy-to-use system that helps                           first new therapy for lupus in 50 years.
   the why will begin to emerge.                                   doctors see the patterns in a patient’s                           The researchers who discovered Benlysta
                                                                   disease, as well as the patient’s                                 trawled through a library of human DNA
   Big data’s potential in pharmaceutical                          response to a given treatment. And                                hunting for genes whose function wasn’t
   R&D is enormous. Armed with vast                                Sanofi recently tied up with pharmacy                             known, but whose characteristics suggested
   amounts of biological data and the                              benefits manager Medco Health                                     they were linked to lupus – ignoring the
   tools to process it – cutting-edge                              Solutions to get ‘real-world’ insights                            conventional wisdom that you couldn’t use
   analytics, streaming, massively parallel                        into how different therapies compare                              a gene to find a new medicine without
   processing and domain-specific access                           when used in a normal clinical setting.                           understanding what the gene did.6

 Figure 1 Our understanding of breast cancer is being transformed

 William Halstead realises that breast cancer
 spreads from a primary tumour and introduces
 radical mastectomy

                                    Investigators discover that tumours fuelled by
                                    oestrogen and progesterone behave differently.                          Herceptin, the first targeted treatment for women
                                    Tamoxifen, the first drug to block the activity of                      with HER2-positive breast cancer, is launched
                                    oestrogen, is launched

                                                                                                                     Scientists sequence 42 tumours and identify
                                                                                                                     several different subtypes

                                                                                                                                   The human genome
                                                                                                                                   is mapped in full

       1940-60                                                      1990                 1994                                          2004                               2012
                                                                                                                                                                                        2020
1894                             1977                                                                   1998      2000          2003

                                                                                          Myraid Genetics                                                                   DNA testing of
                                                                                          isolates BRCA1                                                                    tumours reveals 10
                                                                                                                                                                            different subtypes
                                                                        Mary Claire-King and her                                          Genome Health launches
                                                                        colleagues at Berkeley prove                                      the first genetic test for
            Researchers establish that 75% of                           the BRCA1 gene exists                                             women with oestrogen
            breast cancers are fuelled by oestrogen
                                                                                                                                          receptor-positive breast
            and progesterone
                                                                                                                                          cancer

 Source: PwC

                                                                                                                                                                 From vision to decision    3
Figure 2 The global pharmaceutical market could be worth nearly $1.6 trillion by 2020

                                            US$ billions
                                            500                                                                                499

                                                           425
                                            400

                                                     337
                                            300
                                                                                                                                                273

                                                                                       205   194                        205
                                            200                                                                                          183
                                                                                                              149
                                                                                                       127
                                            100

                                                                       27     31
                                               0
                                                   United States       Canada          EU-Big 5           Japan           Growth            ROW
                                                                                                                          markets
                                                       Sales in 2011        Sales in 2020

                                        Source: Business Monitor International
                                        Notes: (1). All sales are expressed in US dollars at constant exchange rates; (2). The growth markets include, in
                                        descending order of size, China, Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico, Turkey, Poland, Venezuela, Argentina, Indonesia,
                                        South Africa, Thailand, Romania, Egypt, Ukraine, Pakistan and Vietnam. (3) EU-Big 5 is France, Germany, Italy,
                                        Spain and United Kingdom.

                                        Genomics isn’t the only field in which
                                        we’ve made great headway. Several stem                         Working out
                                        cell therapies have already reached the                        our wiring
    While there’s still a lot more to   market and Canadian regulators recently
                                        approved the first stem cell medicine
    learn about the human body,         manufactured for off-the-shelf use.
                                                                                                       Most diseases stem from
                                                                                                       disturbances in the way the
    medical researchers have made       Developed by Osiris Therapeutics,                              molecular components in a human
                                        Prochymal is a treatment for acute
    huge strides in the past few        graft-versus-host disease, using
                                                                                                       cell interact, rather than a single
                                                                                                       genetic abnormality. This
    years – and even better things      mesenchymal stem cells derived from                            intracellular network is immensely
                                        the bone marrow of healthy adult donors.7
    lie ahead                                                                                          complex. It has more than 100,000
                                                                                                       different components – including
                                        With disciplines like epigenetics, we’re                       about 25,000 protein-encoding
                                        also beginning to understand the impact                        genes, 1,000 metabolites and an as
                                        of heritable biological elements that                          yet unknown number of distinct
                                        aren’t directly encoded in our DNA. And                        proteins and functional RNA
                                        with concepts like network medicine,                           molecules – all of which function
                                        we’re developing the means to understand                       interdependently.
                                        the molecular relationships between
                                        apparently distinct ‘pathophenotypes’                          With network medicine, researchers
                                        (see box, Working out our wiring).8                            aim to create ‘wiring diagrams’ of
                                                                                                       the cells whose breakdown causes a
                                        So, while there’s still a lot more to                          particular disease – much as vehicle
                                        learn about the human body, medical                            manufacturers create wiring
                                        researchers have made huge strides                             diagrams of a car’s electronics, so
                                        in the past few years – and even better                        that a mechanic can fix any faults.
                                        things lie ahead. By 2020, the financial                       Such diagrams will ultimately help
                                        and intellectual investment of the last                        pharma develop treatments that can
                                        10 years should be starting to yield                           ‘fix’ the underlying components of
                                        big rewards.                                                   disease, as distinct from its symptoms.

4   Pharma 2020
Escalating demand for medicines                 eight-year drive to provide universal                        Poor scientific productivity
That’s not all. The global pharmaceutical       coverage.19 And India’s National                             Take the vexed issue of the industry’s
market is growing steadily, with sales          Rural Health Mission has achieved                            scientific productivity. Although the
reaching $1.08 trillion in 2011 – a             considerable progress in the 6½ years                        number of new medicines reaching the
year-on-year increase of 7.8%. The              since it was launched, although much                         market picked up in 2011, pharma’s
mature economies proved very sluggish,          still remains to be done.20                                  annual output has effectively flatlined
but the growth economies were another                                                                        for the past 10 years (see Figure 3).
matter. Sales in the BRIC countries             In short, there are more people – and
(Brazil, China, India and Russia) rose          more sick or elderly people – in the world                   Developing new medicines is becoming
by 22.6%, while sales in the other 13           today than ever before. More people                          an increasingly expensive business, too,
growth countries (the ‘fast followers’,         have access to affordable healthcare                         although precisely how expensive is the
as we call them) rose by 7.2%.9                 than ever before. And, by 2020, access                       subject of fierce debate. In 2006, the
                                                to healthcare may well be regarded                           Tufts Center for the Study of Drug
If this pattern continues, the market           everywhere as a basic human right.                           Development put average costs per
for medicines could be worth nearly                                                                          molecule at $1.24-1.32 billion.22 Various
$1.6 trillion by 2020 (see Figure 2).10         Trade liberalisation                                         commentators have since challenged
Indeed, it could be worth even more.            Many of the historical barriers to free                      these figures, claiming that the real cost
Demand for pharma’s products is rising          trade have also been removed, bringing                       is anything from $75 million to $4
dramatically, as the global population          a period of unprecedented growth in                          billion, although most people lean
increases, ages and becomes more                global trade. Between 2001 and 2011,                         towards the higher end of the range.23
sedentary. In 2010, there were an               the total value of merchandise export
estimated 6.9 billion people. By 2020,          flows (excluding services) soared from                       Tighter regulation
there will be more than 7.6 billion.11 And,     $6.2 trillion to $18.2 trillion in current                   The regulatory environment is
if present trends are any guide, many of        US dollars.21                                                simultaneously getting more rigorous.
them will have health problems.                                                                              The European Medicines Agency (EMA)
                                                In some respects, then, pharma’s never                       recently introduced a new, three-pronged
More than 30% of the population won’t           had it so good. The tools to develop                         approach to the management of adverse
get enough physical exercise;12 more than       remarkable new medicines are                                 reactions.24 And the Food and Drug
20% will be overweight or obese;13 and          materialising, demand for its products                       Administration (FDA) is building an
more than 13% will be 60 or older.14            is escalating and trade is getting easier.                   active surveillance system called Sentinel
These are all factors that increase the risk                                                                 to oversee the safety of all medicines on
of developing heart disease, diabetes and       The worst of times                                           the US market.25
cancer. The number of people reaching           Yet pharma also faces some enormous
really old age is also mounting, and the        obstacles. Innovation has declined, the
prevalence of dementia doubles every            regulations are becoming more onerous
five years after the age of 65.15 Hence the     and market conditions are getting
World Health Organisation’s prediction          harsher, as healthcare costs everywhere
that, by 2020, non-communicable                 keep rising.
diseases will account for 44 million
deaths a year, 15% more than in 2010.16
                                                Figure 3 Pharma’s scientific productivity has flatlined for a full decade

The global incidence of infectious
diseases is increasing as well. That’s partly       Number of products approved
because some diseases have become
drug-resistant. But over the past few               40

decades new pathogens such as HIV and               35                                        7
MRSA have emerged. And old scourges
                                                    30     6
like pertussis have reared their heads                             8                 14                                                           11
                                                                                                                           10      15
again. In fact, the number of cases of              25
                                                                                                              11
                                                                                                      10
pertussis in the US is now higher than              20
                                                                           9                                        10                     11
at any time since the early 1970s.17
                                                    15

Meanwhile, many of the growth economies             10
are improving access to healthcare.
                                                     5
Brazil’s introducing mobile clinics for                   27       24      17        21      31       18      18    16     21      19     15      24
                                                     0
rural communities.18 China’s on track
                                                         2000    2001    2002    2003       2004      2005   2006   2007   2008   2009    2010   2011
with a US$125 billion programme to
extend health insurance cover to more                       New molecular entities        Biologics

than 90% of the population by the end           Source: EvaluatePharma, ‘World Preview 2018’ (June 2012)
of 2012. Mexico has just completed an

                                                                                                                                  From vision to decision   5
Regulators around the globe are also          Some instances? Russia started enforcing
    The market’s getting much                                collaborating more closely, so a product      mark-up limits on imported medicines in
                                                             that’s rejected in one region is more         April 2010.28 India announced plans to
    tougher, with tighter                                    likely to be rejected in others. In late      control the prices of 400 essential
    regulation, harsher price                                2010, for example, the EMA pulled             products in November 2011.29 And
                                                             diabetes drug Avandia, while the FDA          Turkey has upped the discount on
    controls and greater                                     imposed strict restrictions on its use, and   treatments reimbursed through its social
    government scrutiny, all                                 the two agencies swapped notes before         security system.30
                                                             reaching a decision.26
    trends that will grow                                                                                  Many governments are also clamping
                                                             More difficult market conditions              down on dubious promotional practices.
                                                             Things are even tougher on the                The US authorities have been
                                                             marketing and sales front. The ‘patent        particularly active. Between 2000 and
                                                             cliff’ is one major factor; between 2012      mid-2012, the industry paid more than
                                                             and 2018, generic erosion will wipe           $30 billion to settle 226 violations,
                                                             about $148 billion off pharma’s revenues      including off-label marketing and
                                                             (see Figure 4). Harsher price controls are    overcharging of taxpayer-funded health
                                                             another. Most of the mature economies         programmes like Medicaid – and the
                                                             already use direct and indirect price         penalties have been steadily escalating
                                                             controls, as we noted in ‘Pharma 2020:        (see Figure 5).31
                                                             Taxing times ahead’.27 But conditions are
                                                             getting more difficult in the growth          The US is by no means alone, though;
                                                             economies as well.                            24 countries have now introduced laws or
                                                                                                           codes of conduct requiring that pharma
                                                                                                           companies disclose any interactions with
    Figure 4 Big Pharma’s earnings are tumbling over the patent cliff
                                                                                                           healthcare professionals who are also
                                                                                                           customers.32 And a recent analysis of the
                                                                                                           Securities and Exchange filings made by
        Expected sales losses (US$ billions)
                                                                                                           the top companies shows that eight face
        35        33                                                                                       charges of corruption in foreign markets.33
        30

        25
                               21                                                     21
        20                                                 19                                19
                                               18
                                                                         17
        15

        10

         5

         0
                 2012         2013             2014       2015          2016          2017   2018

    Sources: EvaluatePharma, ‘World Preview 2018’ (June 2012)
    Note: Estimate of losses based on top 500 pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

6   Pharma 2020
As the governments of the growth               Figure 5 Pharma’s incurring bigger and more frequent financial penalties in the US
economies invest more public funds in
healthcare, the regulators become more
proactive and patients become more                 Number of settlements                                              Total penalties (US$ millions)

demanding, pharma will come under                  50                                                                                         8,000
even closer scrutiny. The way it conducts                                                                                                     7,000
clinical trials, the partnerships it forms         40
                                                                                                                                              6,000
with payers and providers, its tendering
and contracting strategies, pricing                30                                                                                         5,000
agreements and digital marketing, how                                                                                                         4,000
it handles patient safety – all will attract       20                                                                                         3,000
more attention.
                                                                                                                                              2,000
                                                   10
Soaring healthcare costs                                                                                                                      1,000
Yet, serious as these issues are, there’s
                                                    0                                                                                         0
arguably an even bigger hurdle facing                   2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
pharma: namely, the rising healthcare
bill. Healthcare expenditure as a                          Settlements        Financial penalties
percentage of gross domestic product
                                               Source: Public Citizen
(GDP) is climbing in countries in every        Note: Figures for 2012 cover period up to 18 July 2012.
income bracket, and it’s climbing most
steeply in the mature markets where the
industry has historically made most of its     Figure 6 Healthcare’s consuming a larger share of GDP in rich and poor countries alike
money (see Figure 6).

This trend is unsustainable, but the only          Healthcare expenditure as % GDP

way to reverse it is by altering our               16                                                                                  15.5
concept of healthcare itself. Instead of           14
                                                                                                                      13.9
focusing on the treatment of disease, we                                                                       12.7
                                                   12
need to focus on curing – or, better still,                                                    10.9
                                                             9.6              10.1
preventing – it. And pharma has a crucial          10
role to play in making the transition.              8
                                                                                                                                       6.2
                                                                                                                5.7    5.9
                                                    6                         5.4              5.4
Two key challenges                                            5.0
                                                                                                                5.3
                                                                                                                       5.9              6.2
So where does the industry now stand?               4
                                                             4.1              4.0
                                                                                               4.8

It’s proved remarkably resilient, given             2
the many problems it’s dealing with.
                                                    0
But, in essence, it faces two overarching                   1995             2000             2005             2010   2015E           2020E
challenges. Tomorrow’s challenge is to
develop new medicines that can prevent                      High income         Middle income            Low income

or cure currently incurable diseases.          Source: World Bank and PwC analysis
Today’s challenge is to get to tomorrow
– and that’s a tall order in itself.

Fortunately, there are a number of steps
senior executives can take to help their
companies reach 2020 and ready them
for the opportunities the next decade
brings. But some of these steps will entail
making very difficult decisions.

                                                                                                                         From vision to decision       7
The mature markets:                                                          Crushing burdens
                                                                                 Financial pressures have played a part

    Maximising the molecule                                                      in hardening healthcare payers’ policies.
                                                                                 The mature markets have experienced
                                                                                 enormous turmoil in the past five years
                                                                                 – and though fiscal stimuli have
    “A thing is worth only as much as it can be sold for.”                       produced a fragile recovery in the
    Publilius Syrus                                                              strongest economies, the situation is still
                                                                                 dire in the GIIPS countries (see
                                                                                 Pharmageddon? on page 16).

                                                                                 Crushing demographic and
                                                                                 epidemiological factors have compounded
                                                                                 these economic woes. More than
                                    There are big differences within the         three-quarters of all Americans are
                                    mature markets and over the past few         overweight or obese. Obesity is also a big
                                    years the differences have been growing.     problem in the rest of the mature markets,
                                    In this chapter we’ll focus on pharma’s      with the exception of Japan. But Japan
                                    prospects in Canada, France, Germany,        has other troubles; by 2020, 34% of the
                                    Japan, the UK and US, and the decisions      population will be 60 or older. (See
                                    involved in maximising returns in these      our list of key national indicators on
                                    markets. We’ll also touch on the situation   page 48.)
                                    in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and
                                    Spain (the GIIPS economies), where the       Age and obesity are both associated with
                                    issue is not so much how to increase         more illness and, sure enough, the
                                    sales as how to reconcile conflicting        prevalence of diseases like diabetes has
                                    ethical and commercial responsibilities.     soared.34 The US has been hit especially
                                                                                 hard. Some 11.3% of adults – rising to
                                    Collectively, Canada, France, Germany,       26.9% of those aged 65-plus – have
                                    Japan, the UK and US still generate 59%      diabetes. Another 35% – rising to 50% of
                                    of the industry’s total revenues (see        those aged 65-plus – have prediabetes.35
                                    Figure 1). But they’re becoming more         In fact, diabetes now accounts for about
                                    difficult places in which to prosper for     one in every 10 healthcare dollars.36
                                    one key reason. They’re all demanding        But the US isn’t alone. The prevalence
                                    better outcomes as a precondition for        of diabetes has been creeping up in
                                    paying for new medicines – a change we       Europe, too.37
                                    expect to result in new regulatory
                                    requirements by 2020.

8   Pharma 2020
Consumer power is increasing the                              Affordable care and its                      The law also encourages healthcare
challenge. Patients in the mature                             implications                                 professionals to band together in
economies have higher expectations than                       Consider the recent healthcare reforms in    accountable care organisations (ACOs)
ever before. They want medicines for                          the US. The Affordable Care Act aims to      to deliver better, more coordinated
conditions previous generations simply                        improve access to healthcare by bringing     care, help prevent disease and reduce
endured. They want medicines that work                        another 30 million citizens within the       unnecessary hospital admissions. Those
for them. And they only have to turn to                       insurance net.40 It also aims, among         that offer a superior service and cut costs
the Internet to find out what’s available                     other things, to reduce out-of-pocket        will be allowed to keep some of the
– or, indeed, to broadcast their opinions:                    expenses on pharmaceuticals, which           money they’ve saved – an incentive that’s
16% of US adults in one recent survey                         should enhance patient compliance.           generated considerable interest. To date,
said they post reviews of the treatments                                                                   65 ACOs have been set up and the
they take on social media sites.38                            The act includes various provisions          number’s expected to double over the
                                                              intended to offset the cost of the           coming 12 months.42
These financial, demographic and social                       changes, some of which will fall
pressures are driving up healthcare                           on pharma’s shoulders. We estimate           These changes will inevitably expose
expenditure dramatically. So it’s easy to                     that these provisions will reduce the        medicines to much greater scrutiny.
see why healthcare payers and providers                       industry’s revenues from branded             When healthcare providers are paid for
in the mature countries are doing all                         medicines by $112 billion over the           the value they create, they’ll apply the
they can to curb the bill. Their resources                    next decade (excluding the effect of         same criterion to the therapies they
are finite – and they’re particularly keen                    introducing a biosimilars pathway).          prescribe. In fact, they’re already starting
to address the so-called HONDAs                               Assuming a modest increase in sales          to do so. Four-fifths of the US health
(Hypertensive, Obese, Non-compliant,                          from expanded insurance coverage,            insurers we polled in a recent survey now
Diabetic Asthmatics) who account for an                       the net loss will be about $97 billion.41    require evidence of cost savings or a clear
estimated 70% of healthcare costs.39                                                                       clinical benefit to include new products
                                                              But the new law has far wider                in their formularies. 16% have also
                                                              ramifications – and the biggest of all,      entered into outcomes-based contracts
                                                              perhaps, is value-based purchasing.          with pharma companies, while another
                                                              From 2013, all hospitals serving             33% expect to do so within three years.43
                                                              Medicare patients with the most common
                                                              conditions will be paid for the quality of   So the Affordable Care Act will have
                                                              the care, rather than the quantity of        a huge impact on pharma. Historically,
                                                              services, they supply. The same concept      drugmakers have sold their products
                                                              will be extended to other healthcare         by the unit at prices they themselves
                                                              providers over the next few years.           have set, with discounts for volume
                                                                                                           buyers. But with the shift from unit
                                                                                                           pricing to value-based purchasing, it’s
Figure 1	Six markets generate three-fifths of pharma’s revenues from prescription                         what customers think – not what the
          products                                                                                         manufacturer thinks – that matters most.
                                                                                                           New products will be priced on the basis
                                              Percentage of sales in 2011                                  of the value buyers accord them. And the
                                                                                                           pharma company’s relationship with the
                                                                                                           healthcare community won’t stop when
                                                                                                           the deal’s signed; it will continue for the
                                                                                 United States
                                                                            31                             duration of the patient’s treatment.
                              ROW        41

                                                                         12
                                                                               Japan
                                               2
                                                 4        5      5
                                     Canada
                                   United Kingdom                    Germany
                                                       France

Source: Business Monitor International

                                                                                                                              From vision to decision   9
Tough talk in the EU,                        Above all, the mature economies are                          Pharma’s biologics bet
  Canada and Japan                             encouraging generic prescribing – and                        But what’s pharma been doing? It’s been
  The other mature economies have also         some have been doing so for many years.                      concentrating on biologics for cancer
  been reforming their healthcare systems,     Indeed, as of 2009, the French social                        and rare diseases. Nearly 30% of the
  as we predicted in ‘Pharma 2020: The         health insurance system even offers                          7,891 molecules currently in clinical
  vision’. And, like the US, they’re taking    doctors individual guidance on rational                      testing cover cancer and autoimmune
  a much harder stance.                        prescribing.50 Such initiatives have had                     conditions.52 An estimated 460
                                               a pronounced effect on prescribing                           medicines for rare disorders are also in
  In 2010, the German Bundestag passed         patterns. Generic spending in the mature                     trials, although there’s some overlap
  the AMNOG health bill, under which all       markets is forecast to rise by $35-40                        between the two areas (see Figure 2).53
  new therapies must be independently          billion over the next five years, with 60%
  assessed against a comparator within         of the increase coming from greater                          Most such treatments cost far more than
  12 months of reaching the market and         utilisation of existing generics.51                          chemical molecules. In the UK, for
  priced in line with the improvement                                                                       example, the average price of a biologic
  they offer.44 The UK will also introduce     So the message healthcare payers in the                      is about £9,500 ($14,750) per patient
  compulsory, value-based pricing of all       mature markets are sending out is loud                       per year, compared with £450 ($700) for
  new drugs in 2014.45 Both these systems      and clear: give us new medicines that are                    a conventional therapy.54 Prices are even
  mark a major departure from previous         clinically and economically better than                      higher in the US and some products for
  practice; in the past, economic              what’s already available – medicines that                    rare diseases cost hundreds of thousands
  evaluation of medicines in the EU has        decrease mortality or morbidity, make                        of dollars.
  been used to determine whether to            the care pathway more efficient or
  reimburse them – not to set prices.          reduce the total resources a patient
                                               consumes. And give us hard, real-world
  Meanwhile, health researchers in             data to back up your claims.
  Canada are investigating the idea of
  a pan-national body to negotiate drug
  prices, thereby reducing the inequities
                                               Figure 2 There are 460 therapies for rare diseases in the pipeline
  between provinces with more and less
  buying power. They’re also examining
  the feasibility of performing real-time
                                                                                   Number of drugs
  evaluations of medicines.46                           Autoimmune disorders                     18
                                                                Blood disorders            12
  Japan is exploring yet other options,
                                                                         Cancer                                                           107
  including the expansion of its scheme
  for re-pricing medicines whose sales               Cancer-related conditions             10
  are much higher than expected.47                                Cancer, blood                                              79
  It also imposed a 1.26% cut in prices                             Cancer, skin                      31
  (using total healthcare expenditure                  Cardiovascular diseases         6
  as its base) in April 2012.48 And the
                                                                  Eye disorders            11
  Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
                                                     Gastrointestinal disorders            10
  is considering whether to introduce
  health technology assessments.49                             Genetic disorders                                        67
                                                               Growth disorders        5
  Further changes are afoot. Several                       Infectious diseases                        31
  countries have introduced fixed,                      Neurological disorders                             37
  all-inclusive hospital tariffs for the
                                                         Respiratory disorders              14
  treatment of specific diseases, with
                                                                 Transplantation                 20
  penalties for emergency re-admissions.
  And many healthcare payers are looking                                  Other                            37

  for opportunities to reduce costs by                                             0            20         40      60        80     100         120
  moving the point of care from the hospital
  to the doctor’s office or patient’s home.    Source: PhRMA

10 Pharma 2020
The value dilemma                             Figure 3 Pharma has an additional lever in the form of outcomes data
In short, the mature markets have been
evolving economically, demographically
and structurally, but pharma hasn’t kept                                                                                 Outcomes impact
abreast of the changes. It’s continued
to pursue its old ‘get more, pay more’
approach, even though the mature                                                                           Marketing
                                                                                                           and sales
markets are running out of money and                                                                  R&D            Patent
some of the medicines it’s developed                                                               productivity     extension
                                                                                                              Costs
arguably provide little extra value.
                                                  $0

What healthcare payers want, by
contrast, is more value for the same
money or the same value for less. And
they can afford to play a waiting game.
                                                                  R&D (12-13 years)               Marketing and sales (7-8 years)
As a growing number of treatments come
off patent, they’ll soon be able to buy the
same medicines at lower prices anyway.        Source: PwC

So pharma’s contributed to the position       The outcomes lever                            marketing and sales. Rather than
in which it finds itself. And any company     There are other implications, too. In the     focusing on commercial potential, for
that wants to reach 2020 will either have     past, pharma had four ‘profit’ levers:        example, the R&D function will have to
to offer more value without charging          R&D productivity, cost cutting, marketing     focus on creating value for customers
more or prove unequivocally that it can       and extension of the period of market         when it decides which medicines to
remove costs from another part of the         exclusivity. Most businesses relied           progress through the pipeline. It will also
healthcare system to make room for the        mainly on marketing, but this lever has       have to collect proof of that value, using
higher prices it’s charging.                  become much less effective now that           real-world outcomes data.
                                              payers and providers scrutinise outcomes
Moreover, since many of the medicines         so carefully. No matter how many sales        Similarly, rather than using unit prices
in the industry’s pipeline went into          reps a company fields or how many             and sales volumes to produce budgets
development before these market forces        samples it hands out, if a new treatment      and forecasts, the health economics
were so strong, some products may be          doesn’t offer more value than competing       function will have to use outcomes-based
incapable of meeting healthcare payers’       therapies, healthcare payers in the           modelling and make sure that investors
expectations. It takes at least a decade to   mature markets simply won’t buy it.           understand the approach it’s adopting.
develop a new drug and only six months                                                      It will also have to set up systems capable
to change a clinical pathway. A lot of        That said, the industry now has another       of managing an intricate network of
companies may thus have to slash their        lever in the form of outcomes data.           contingency payments and rebates.
portfolios at very short notice.              Instead of ‘creating awareness’, it can
                                              demonstrate the worth of its products         The marketing and sales function will
                                              with real-world evidence of lower             have to make even bigger adjustments.
                                              mortality and morbidity rates or savings      It will have to grapple with rigorous
                                              in total healthcare costs (see Figure 3).     scientific data and complex economic
                                                                                            studies, as well as developing the skills
                                              But pulling the ‘outcomes lever’ will         to negotiate with healthcare payers
                                              require major changes, and three              equipped to perform their own
                                              functions will be particularly deeply         sophisticated analyses.
                                              affected: R&D, health economics and

                                                                                                                  From vision to decision 11
Maximising the molecule
  So what, more specifically, can pharma        Reinforcing the power of the pill
  companies do to ‘maximise the molecule’?
  We’ll look at four ways to create more        With ingestible microchips embedded        now incorporated the game into
  value for customers: plugging ‘leaks’         in drugs, doctors will soon be able to     physiotherapy programmes.
  in the healthcare system; collecting          tell whether patients are taking their
  real-world evidence of a medicine’s           medicines as prescribed. Proteus           But other companies have used the
  effectiveness; measuring how patients         Digital Health’s chips are one of          same idea. HopeLab has launched
  feel; and developing companion                several new technologies that aim          a video game designed to foster a
  diagnostics for specialist therapies.         to improve compliance. Other devices       positive attitude in young cancer
                                                in the pipeline include implants that      sufferers. Players can use a variety of
  Plug leaks in the                             wirelessly inject drugs at pre-specified   ‘weapons’ to zap malignant cells, with
  healthcare system                             times and sensors that send a patient’s    20 levels each providing information
  Since healthcare payers want better           electrocardiogram to a smart phone.        about different treatments and the
  clinical and economic outcomes, one                                                      importance of adhering to them. Bayer
  logical place to start is by analysing the    Mobile health applications also hold       has also created a blood glucose
  care pathway to identify where the            huge promise. mHealth apps store           monitoring system that can be plugged
  outcomes from existing treatments             Happtique has, for example, launched       into a Nintendo. Didget aims to teach
  are impaired. Our research shows that,        a pilot programme that lets doctors        children with diabetes how to manage
  in the US alone, roughly $210 billion         prescribe apps as part of an overall       their disease by rewarding them for
  a year is wasted on overuse or misuse         healthcare package. mHealth will           testing themselves regularly with new
  of medicines and procedures. Care for         revolutionise healthcare in at least two   scenarios and characters.
  conditions that could be corrected            respects. It will encourage patients to
  through lifestyle changes costs another       take responsibility for their own health   Health video games merge the worlds
  $303-493 billion a year.55                    and provide a means of measuring key       of healthcare and entertainment. More
                                                health parameters in a comprehensive,      sophisticated biomonitoring devices
  The first step is to map out the different    continuous fashion.                        and mHealth apps will produce further
  stages in the pathway for a given disease                                                convergence. Fast-forward and
  – from the stage at which the patient is      Remote monitoring devices and              biosensors will eventually be able to
  at risk to the stage at which the disease     mHealth will eliminate some of the         record everything we eat and drink,
  is no longer controllable through             obstacles to non-compliance. The           as well as the amount of exercise we
  medication. The next step is to find the      ‘gamification’ of healthcare has a         take. They’ll track the number of
  places in the care pathway where value        different end: encouraging people to       calories we consume, remind us to
  is lost, because of the patient’s behaviour   lead a healthier lifestyle by making it    go to the gym and warn us when we
  or failings in the healthcare system.         fun. Nintendo’s Wii Fit video game is      open the refrigerator for that diet-
  Many of these leaks occur at transition       probably the best-known example of         blowing snack.
  points in the care pathway, where there’s     this approach. Several hospitals have
  unnecessary duplication and waste.

  Once a company has pinpointed the
  leaks, it can identify the sort of
  interventions that might help and where
  they’re required. This might include
  screening for a disease while it’s still in
  the asymptomatic stage, offering dietary
  advice, reducing a drug’s dosing
  frequency, providing reminders or,
  indeed, many other things (see box,
  Reinforcing the power of the pill).56

12 Pharma 2020
A number of medical technology firms            pharma’s walls. EMRs, electronic              But capturing patient-reported outcomes
are already exploring new ways of               prescribing data, patient compliance          in clinical trials requires a lot of upfront
creating added value, as we noted in            data and the like are important pieces        planning, particularly when new
‘Owning the disease’.57 A few pharma            of the jigsaw puzzle.                         measurement tools must be developed
companies have started doing likewise.                                                        and validated first. So it’s essential to
In June 2010, for example, Pfizer               The industry will also have to convince       start early in the process. It’s also
launched a vascular health check service        healthcare payers of the reliability of its   important to capture the patient
in British pharmacies.58 Similarly,             data and that could be an uphill struggle.    perspective from as many sources as
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has linked up             Only 5% of the US health insurers we          possible. Social media can be a rich
with specialist technology provider             recently surveyed are very confident of       source of information here – and the
MedTrust Online to offer an iPhone              the quality of the economic data pharma       number of people using such outlets will
app that lets US oncologists search             companies provide, and only 7% are very       only increase. In the US, for example,
for clinical trials by cancer type and          confident of the quality of the information   83% of Internet users aged 18-29 use
automatically identifies the trial centres      they receive on a drug’s comparative          social networking sites, compared with
nearest their patients.59                       effectiveness.61                              just 33% of those aged 65-plus.64

Meanwhile, Boehringer Ingelheim is              There are several things the industry         Online patient groups and blogs provide
piloting a digital health management            can do to foster trust. For instance,         an opportunity to listen to patients
service for patients with diabetes. It          it can sponsor independent research           talking openly about their experiences.
combines a personalised action plan             on the cost-effectiveness of its products     Several firms have already set up
and digital coaching with wireless              or get independent verification of its        disease-specific communities and sell
monitoring to measure the impact of             data. It can also agree on a set of           the insights they collect. With new
behavioural changes.60 But many more            common measures for assessing clinical        technologies for processing natural
opportunities for stopping the leaks and        and economic value to reduce the              language and analysing unstructured
enhancing outcomes exist.                       administrative burden on its customers.       data, it’s also getting easier for pharma
                                                                                              companies to monitor the digital
Collect real-world evidence                     Measure the feel factor                       grapevine themselves.
of value                                        It’s not just clinical and economic
We’ve talked about maximising                   outcomes that count, though. Nearly           That said, it’s imperative the industry
molecules that are already on the market.       a third of the quality measures initially     secure proper patient consent and treat
What about those that are still in the          used for value-based purchasing of            all such data responsibly. Privacy and
pipeline? With value-based purchasing,          healthcare services in the US rest on         security violations can cause serious
it’s imperative to collect the sort of          patient satisfaction.62 So healthcare         reputational damage, in addition to
information healthcare payers want –            providers will have to take account of        other problems like the loss of vital
and traditional randomised controlled           how patients feel.                            clinical data. Yet our research shows that
trials don’t capture that data. They’re                                                       nearly three-quarters of US healthcare
designed to measure the safety and              The number of pharma companies                organisations (including pharma
efficacy of a new medicine in carefully         that measure the patient experience           companies) use health data for secondary
managed conditions, not how well it             is still very small. But Incyte’s recent      purposes other than those for which it
works in the real world.                        use of patient-reported outcomes with         was collected, and less than half have
                                                myelofibrosis drug Jakafi shows just how      put robust safeguards in place.65
We’ll discuss the sort of trials that provide   valuable a tool it can be. The FDA stated
evidence of a medicine’s economic value         that it was a vital element in the decision
in more detail in chapter 4. But, among         to approve Jakafi and, unusually, let
other things, they entail setting up a          the company include information about
real-world data infrastructure. Most            symptom relief on the packaging.
companies will have to collaborate with         Incyte’s efforts have been recognised
other organisations to do this, since           in the marketplace, too. Jakafi sells for
much of the information that’s needed to        $84,000 a year in the US – compared
develop medicines with a better clinical        with the $40,000-60,000 it was
and economic profile lies outside               originally expected to fetch.63

                                                                                                                 From vision to decision 13
Creating companion diagnostics for medicines that target
                                                                a specific disease subtype lets doctors maximise the value
                                                                of those medicines themselves

                                                                Develop companion diagnostics                       The FDA has also signalled that it would
                                                                for specialist medicines                            like to see more specialist medicines
                                                                Another way companies can maximise                  paired with companion diagnostics and
                                                                the molecules they’re developing is to              sometimes accelerates the review
                                                                create companion diagnostics that let               process for such products. But when the
                                                                doctors maximise the value of those                 ‘carrot’ doesn’t work, it’s ready to wield
                                                                molecules themselves. There’s no point              the stick. In 2010, the agency refused to
                                                                in prescribing therapies that target one            approve leukaemia treatment Omapro
                                                                disease subtype for patients who suffer             without a diagnostic to identify the
                                                                from another, as healthcare payers                  target patient base.66
                                                                recognise. And they’re prepared to
                                                                reward innovations that help them direct            NICE rejected melanoma therapy Yervoy
                                                                precious resources more effectively.                for reimbursement on the same grounds
                                                                (see Table 1).                                      in 2011.67 So failing to develop a
                                                                                                                    diagnostic test for a costly treatment
                                                                                                                    that’s aimed at a tiny patient population
  Table 1		Targeted medicines with companion diagnostics generate high revenues
                                                                                                                    may damage its prospects of commercial
            because they work so well for specific patient segments
                                                                                                                    success. Indeed, we think that, by 2020,
                                                                                                                    companion diagnostics will be mandatory
                                                                                     Population                     for approval of all such medicines.
                                              Annualised                        testing positive
                                                  cost per                        for biomarker Projected sales
  Product              Indication            patient in US          Biomarker               (%)     (2012-2018)
  Erbitux              Colorectal, head               $84,000         EGFR+               37.5     $13.42 billion
                       and neck cancer                               KRAS-wt
  Herceptin +          Breast cancer                 $124,800         HER-2+                25     $49.96 billion
  Perjeta
  Tarceva              Non-small cell                 $52,800          EGFR+             10-15      $10.8 billion
                       lung cancer
  Xalkori              Non-small cell                $115,200           ALK+               4-7      $4.76 billion
                       lung cancer
  Zelboraf             Melanoma                      $112,800          BRAF+              13.5      $4.25 billion

  Sources: EvaluatePharma and The Pink Sheet
  Note: Projected sales are cumulative and global.

14 Pharma 2020
What’s it worth?                               Maximising the molecule will involve
                               To sum up, the message healthcare              major decisions about which diseases
                               payers in the mature markets are sending       to concentrate on, which medicines to
                               is clear: they want more value for their       pursue, what data to collect and how
                               money, they’re measuring the value             best to plug leaks in the healthcare
                               they get more carefully and they’re not        system. The vast majority of companies
                               prepared to pay thousands of dollars for       will also need to revise their budgeting
                               medicines that offer only incremental          and forecasting processes, billing and
                               improvements in outcomes. Their                payment systems and the way they go
                               pockets aren’t deep enough.                    to market.

                               But what healthcare payers mean by             Most importantly of all, they’ll need to
                               ‘value’ is also becoming clearer, as the       keep the big picture in mind at all times.
Healthcare payers in the                                                      Treatments that prevent disease, cure
                               pricing and reimbursement processes
mature markets want more       they use become more transparent.              otherwise incurable diseases, reduce the
                               And the scope for helping them make            overall use of resources and let patients
value for their money and                                                     stay as productive as possible for as long
                               savings is huge. Thus far, pharma’s
they’re measuring the value    focused on the roughly 15% of the              as possible: these are the sort of
                               health budget that goes on medicines.68        medicines governments and health
they get much more carefully                                                  insurers in the mature markets will buy.
                               That leaves another 85% from which
                               it can generate revenues by reducing
                               consumption of more costly medical             And, in the end, as the Roman writer
                               services. If it succeeds in doing this – and   Publilius Syrus once noted, “A thing is
                               in surmounting sociopolitical opposition       worth only as much as it can be sold for.”
                               to the rebalancing of the mix – we think       So it’s what payers, providers and
                               its share of healthcare expenditure in         patients value that will determine the
                               the mature economies could rise to 20%         value pharma creates for its shareholders.
                               by 2020.

                                                                                                From vision to decision 15
Pharmageddon?                                                 Tighter economic
                                                                               governance
                 The financial problems in the GIIPS                           Under EU law, national governments are
                 economies have already had a significant                      responsible for setting health policy and
                 impact on pharma. The European                                organising and financing healthcare, so
                 Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries                       the EU’s health initiatives are generally
                 and Associations (EFPIA) estimates that                       confined to promoting cross-border
                 price cuts and discounts in all five                          cooperation and setting health and
                 markets reduced the industry’s revenues                       safety standards. But, with strict fiscal
                 by more than €7 billion ($8.8 billion) in                     rules enshrined in the EU treaties and
                 2010 and 2011. But, with other countries                      European Fiscal Compact, as well as
                 demanding similar discounts, the                              stringent bailout terms for the member
                 indirect cost was much higher.69                              states that have accepted help from the
                                                                               EU and International Monetary Fund
                 The next few years also look bleak.                           (IMF), EU economic governance poses
                 The governments of the GIIPS states are                       an increasingly important constraint
                 tightening their budgets, and expenditure                     on healthcare.
                 on healthcare – including prescription
                 medicines – is a prime target. Opposition                     Portugal, for example, is currently
                 from the voting public, industry                              implementing the terms of an EU/IMF
                 advocates and subnational governments                         rescue package under which the
                 in some countries may temper these                            government is required to enact
                 efforts. Even so, pharmaceutical sales in                     legislation to rationalise the use of
                 the five GIIPS economies are expected to                      health services and reduce overall public
                 fall to $65.4 billion by 2020, down from                      spending on medicines. So it’s likely to
                 $81.3 billion in 2011 (see Figure 1).                         issue new cost-saving provisions. One
                                                                               option is to halve the prices of drugs
                                                                               whose patents expire.70 The next annual
                                                                               review of drug prices, due in early 2013,
                                                                               may well bring additional cuts.

                 Figure 1 By 2020, pharma’s revenues will be lower in four of the five GIIPS markets

                      US$ billions
                       40
                                                                        34.6
                       35

                       30                                                        29.0                   28.0

                       25
                                                                                                               19.2
                       20

                       15
                                9.3
                       10               8.5
                                                                                           6.2
                                                                                                 5.1
                         5                          3.2     3.6

                         0
                                  Greece               Ireland               Italy          Portugal       Spain

                                 Sales in 2011      Projected sales in 2020

                 Source: Business Monitor International
                 Note: All sales are expressed in US dollars at constant exchange rates.

16 Pharma 2020
The Greek government has also initiated       The Italian and Spanish governments are      Pharma’s efforts to curb the practice
various healthcare reforms, including         both at loggerheads with the regional        have been repeatedly stymied, even
a restrictive reimbursement list, under       administrations, which manage most           though most studies show that it’s the
its two EU/IMF Memorandums of                 public healthcare spending. In Italy, this   middlemen – not healthcare payers –
Understanding.71 Other cost-saving            is partly because the Cabinet hopes to       who benefit most. But resistance may
measures may involve the promotion of         conclude a health pact with the country’s    finally be softening. In May 2012, the
generics. In March 2012, for example,         regional governments in mid-November         European Commission launched an
the Italian government passed a               that will probably reduce the amount of      investigation into the parallel trade of
‘liberalisation’ law strengthening the        money transferred to them.78 The             pharmaceuticals. It’s reported to be
rules on the use of generic alternatives.72   Cabinet will also set new standard cost      considering whether the industry is
And, in July 2012, the Irish Minister for     measurements to allow for more efficient     justified in arguing for differential pricing
Health introduced a draft bill permitting     healthcare budgeting and lay out a           of drugs bought for re-exportation.85
automatic generic substitution which,         timeline for adoption by the end of
if passed, could cut the country’s            2012.79 Its recent spending review           A tightrope to walk
expenditure on medicines by €50 billion       includes other measures to limit public      The key issue pharma companies trading
a year.73                                     spending on medicines and medical            in the GIIPS economies face, then, is how
                                              devices, force suppliers to return part      best to balance the needs of patients
Mounting debts                                of their compensation when hospitals         with their own commercial imperatives.
Price cuts and generic erosion aren’t the     run over budget and impose deeper            That entails making some hard decisions
industry’s only grounds for concern,          discounts on pharmaceuticals.80              about whether to impose more rigorous
though. Ireland apart, all the GIIPS                                                       payment terms, whether to restrict the
countries have deferred payment of their      Patients will be expected to pick up a       products they supply and whether to
medicines bills, with an estimated            bigger share of their medical expenses       serve patients via different channels,
€12-15 billion owing by the end of 2011.74    in the coming years, too. Italy and          thereby giving patients access to the
                                              Spain are both trying to reduce costs        treatments they require without going
The problem started in Greece, where          by shifting more of the burden of            through bankrupt public hospitals.
the hospitals racked up debts of about        pharmaceutical expenditure to private
€7 billion in the latter part of the last     payers. For example, the Spanish Health      It also entails coping with considerable
decade. Many of those bills remain            Ministry recently eliminated over 400        uncertainty. As the Eurozone crisis
unpaid, and the Greek government              drugs from its reimbursement lists.81        unfolds, prolonged austerity and market
recently passed a law stipulating that        And, in April 2012, it introduced            pressure may contribute to public
if the country exceeded its annual            co-payments on medicines for pensioners,     discontent and political instability.
medicines budget, the industry would be       as well as raising co-payments for           Changes in government in the GIIPS
required to pay for any overspending.75       everyone in the workforce, with              countries and elsewhere haven’t
                                              increases tied to income levels.82           generally resulted in the reversal of
The contagion subsequently spread                                                          austerity measures and structural reform
to Italy, Portugal and Spain.                 Grey trading                                 policies thus far. But it remains to be
Macroeconomics research group                 The financial plight of the GIIPS            seen whether voters will continue to
Prometeia reports that Italy’s local health   economies has had one last change of         tolerate austerity in the longer term.
authorities took an average 262 days to       particular significance for pharma: the
pay their medicines bills in 2011, while      increase in re-exportation of medicines
payment delays in Portugal rose from          from lower- priced to higher-priced
375 days to 453 days.76 The Spanish           countries. In 2009, the ‘grey’ market for
health system was in an even worse            prescription drugs in Europe was worth
position until June 2012, when the            about €5.2 billion a year (at ex-factory
government set aside €17 billion to cover     prices).83 But EFPIA reports that there’s
rising debts in the autonomous regions.77     been a marked rise in parallel trading in
                                              recent months.84

                                                                                                              From vision to decision 17
The growth markets:                                                                                           Hot and cold at the
                                                                                                                same time
  Hot, cold, hard to get right                                                                                  The growth markets are as hot as boiling
                                                                                                                water, but they can also be as cold as ice.
                                                                                                                On the one hand, they’re expanding
                                                                                                                rapidly. By 2020, the BRIC economies
  “If a man has one foot in a bucket of ice and the other                                                       alone will account for 33% of the world’s
  in a bucket of boiling water, he is, on the average,                                                          GDP, measured in terms of purchasing
                                                                                                                power parity (PPP) – up from 25%
  very comfortable.”                                                                                            in 2009.86
  Mark Twain
                                                                                                                On the other hand, the growth markets
                                                                                                                come with some enormous challenges,
                                                                                                                including their geographic size, cultural
                                                                                                                diversity, underdeveloped infrastructure,
                                                                                                                fragmented distribution systems and
  Figure 1 Demand for medicines is rising rapidly in the growth markets                                         weak regulations that are often
                                                                                                                ineffectively enforced. Average incomes
                                                                                                                are also much lower than they are in the
      US$ billions                                                                                              developed world.
      200
                        175.8                                                                           172.2
                                                                                                                So the growth markets have great
      175
                                                                                                                commercial potential, but they could
      150                                                                                                       take as long as 20 years to catch up
      125                                                                                                       with the mature markets. And, in the
                                                                                                                meantime, doing business in these
      100
                                                                                                                countries carries a lot of risks for the
                                                                                                 76.6
        75      66.9                                                                                            inexperienced or unwary.
                                            57.3
                                                                45.1                48.8
        50
                                    25.6                                                                        A foot in each bucket
        25                                              20.7                15.6                                Pharma’s prospects reflect this
         0                                                                                                      dichotomy. On the upside, expenditure
                     China             Brazil              Russia               India          Fast followers
                                                                                                                on medicines is rising far faster in the
                 Sales in 2011      Projected sales in 2020                                                     growth economies than it is elsewhere.
                                                                                                                In aggregate, it could reach $499 billion
  Source: Business Monitor International
                                                                                                                a year by 2020 – up from $205 billion in
  Notes: (1) All sales are expressed in US dollars at constant exchange rates; (2) The fast followers include
  Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine,      2011 – as economic expansion and better
  Venezuela and Vietnam.                                                                                        access to healthcare drive up demand
                                                                                                                (see Figure 1).

                                                                                                                On the downside, serving the growth
                                                                                                                markets is very difficult, both because
                                                                                                                of their intrinsic problems and because
                                                                                                                they vary so much. They differ
                                                                                                                politically, geographically, religiously,

18 Pharma 2020
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