Drug patents protect pharma profits. Track when they’ll expire here.
Patents reward drugmakers for their inventions and, effectively, the large sums of money they invest in research and development. The legal monopoly that patents provide keeps generic copies at bay for many years, even decades, and allows pharmaceutical companies to set higher prices than they otherwise could.
Executive decisions are often closely linked to the patent life of blockbuster medicines. Ahead of so-called patent cliffs, when patent expirations permit waves of lookalike competitors to enter the market, companies typically seek to restock their pipelines by investing in R&D, licensing experimental therapies or acquiring other drugmakers.
A major patent cliff faces the pharma industry later this decade, putting more than $200 billion in annual revenue at risk through 2030. This will force companies into major decisions: Will they pour more money into research? Or will they buy their way out of trouble?
Below, BioPharma Dive has compiled upcoming expiration dates for the key patents protecting the 30 top-selling drugs, by 2023 sales. We’ll be updating this database as the relevant dates and products change. If we’ve missed anything, or there’s any additional information you’d like to see, please reach out and let us know.
Big pharma’s looming patent cliff
Years of expiration for principal patents protecting the top 30 pharmaceutical products by 2023 sales.
The standard term for patents granted in the U.S. is 20 years. Drugmakers usually will have already secured patents on a new drug ahead of any regulatory approval, meaning the protected time on market can be less.
There are strategies to offset this, however, as companies can piece together different forms of regulatory exclusivity, seek what’s known as patent term restoration or create “thickets” of various patents on everything from a dosing schedule to an injection device.
These thickets — now the target of government scrutiny in the U.S. — can sometimes stave off generic competition for two decades or more. Enbrel, an inflammatory disease drug sold by Amgen, will have enjoyed more than 30 years of protected time on market when a key patent expires in 2029, for example.
Top-sellers’ long-lived patent protection
Lines show length of market monopoly, beginning from first U.S. approval to currently expected patent expiration.
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