July 11, 2019

The Revolution in the Generic Sphere is Just Around the Corner Are You Ready…

In the competitive generic world where launching the first generic in the market was the leading strategy, the game is about to change. The consolidation purchasing groups in the US followed by Europe becoming smarter and more demanding by each day that goes by. The aggressive erosion in the generic prices is intensifying over time. A differentiated strategy is vital for generic companies success in the long run. It is well known that the power moves to the patient, with self-doctoring phenomena that reveal the real challenges to come. The doctors’ decisions that delivered as go without saying convert into a suggestion to the most. The patient becomes smarter with the globalization and the access to valuable up to date data, that challenge the doctors’ decision and enhance with time. The physicians are forced to be up to date and to offer the best possible treatment to the patient regardless of budgets and insurance restrictions. The patients have held more freedom to navigate between insurance companies to ensure they get the best drugs and treatment options. This assumption leads us to the understanding that generic companies not only need to be competitive to succeed but also to reinvent and to differentiate themselves from the generic wolf pack, and to stop mimicking the innovators’ drugs as a given solution. The patient and physician real needs for generic plus products that can follow and serve the pathology needs in an adequate way is essential. Drugs that was introduced 20 years ago need to be modified to serve the patient needs today. There is quite a gap between the treatment strategy that was defined as a standard of care 20 years ago compare to today treatments. The science had made fundamental progress that was not translated to the adaptation of the therapies today because of lack of treatment options. The generic companies didn’t inline the therapeutical needs to the drug they are offering today, phenomena that cause compliance and patient lack of adherence. Antibiotic treatment that was given at a fixed dose two decades ago had converted to more specific disease-oriented therapy with a specific dose or administration designated to each diagnosed with lack or less adequate treatment options. The generic companies need to leverage this gap and to create tailor-made therapies not only as it is done selectively today in the oncology field but through all the therapeutical segments. There is no reason for a patient that suffers from diabetic, cholesterol and high blood pressure to take 6, or worse 9 pills a day if he can take only 1 or two. There is no reason for a patient that suffers from colitis (around 20% of the population will suffer from colitis in their life cycle) to take 12 tablets a day on top of their chronic treatment drugs. There is an endless amount of improvement that could or shell I say should be done by generic companies to provide the patient with more unambiguous therapies. The cost of the clinical research to reach to the desired drugs could easily be retrieved from sales in the short-medium term. The physicians followed by the patients and the insurance companies won’t be late to appreciate and to embrace the tailor-made therapy approach. It is believed that the generic companies can charge a premium for the generic plus drugs in the range of 10-20% more than the conventional generic drugs, and more than that could prevent the aggressive price erosion for at list 3-5 years period. Tailor-made therapies are the future, either you will join the revolution or you will stay behind, this trend will predominantly enhance with time and you better not miss the train, for the sake of the patients and your business growth.Yours, Shlomo Sadoun Sk-Pharma Group.