Drugs off patent series GlaxoSmithKlines Advair Viewpoint careers advice blog

Drugs off patent series â€" GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus is prescribed for chronic asthma and sufferers of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) including chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema. In the USA, it costs around $300 for each dose, a significant health investment for sufferers. A worldwide success Annual worldwide sales were approximately US$7 billion in 2009. Patent protection in the US expired in 2010, and European patent protection will expire in 2013. Advair is also known as: Seretide (Brazil, India, Australia, Colombia, EU, México, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, UK) Viani (Germany) Adoair (Japan) Foxair (South Africa). Demand for such a product is naturally high and a cheaper generic alternative has a ready market with instant sales prospects. This event could heavily impact GSK’s profit margin and move employment opportunities back out to a thriving generic market. Searching for an elusive substitute However, the Advair Diskusis proving to be a notoriously difficult product to copy. It combines two drugs in a fine powder that is then inhaled through the Diskus and this method is currently a tough challenge to replicate successfully. The FDA’s complex approval criteria offer another serious barrier for a US-sold alternative. Few generic companies have the experience and track record in producing complex inhaled drugs. This has seen a shift to ex-Big Pharma specialists being recruited by the generic market to specifically tackle this knowledge gap. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. has drafted ex-Glaxo specialists to help them and it is suggested that Novartis’ acquisition of a small company founded by former GlaxoSmithKline executives is for this very reason. For GSK, Advair looks set to continue as a core blockbuster for the foreseeable future, despite coming out of patent. Advair’s impact on the recruitment industry The patent lapse for blockbuster drug Advair is likely to have a significant impact on subsequent recruitment opportunities, as well as the asthma drug market. Do you believe we will just see more specialists moving from traditional Big Pharma to the generics, or will we see Big Pharma consolidating their businesses by concentrating resource on hard-to-replicate inhaled medicines and biometric formulas? To share your thoughts on this article and to stay up to date with the latest business, employment and recruitment news in the life sciences industry, please join our LinkedIn group Life Sciences Industry Insights with Hays  and follow us on Twitter  @HaysLifeScience.