Do all brands have to lose 90% of sales to generics ? Not necessarily

The US Pharma industry often regards drugs with generic competition to be at the end of their promotional lifetimes. As we prepare for an onslaught of new generics over the next 18 months, Cegedim explores how generics have impacted promotional strategy for some of America’s most prescribed molecules. Despite active generic competition, Pfizer’s blood pressure medication Norvasc is still actively promoted through a variety of channels as is Merck’s lipid-lowering drug Zocor. Much smaller on the promotion scale is BMS’ Glucophage which barely outspends its generic competitors.

The success story amoung US brands for maintaining significant prescription market share against competitors is Abbott’s Synthroid – dwarfing the promotional spending of its nearest generic competitor by eight times. Synthroid’s messages about “constant bioavailability” and “the difference in trade-name Synthroid and generics” are effective with physicians. Abbott also uses coupon programs to keep Synthroid’s pricing attractive to consumers.

To view their press release – Pharmaceutical Marketing Expenditure Trends:  https://www.cegedimstrategicdata.com/Press/Documents/CSD%202010%20Pharmaceutical%20Marketing%20Expenditure%20July%202011.pdf

Related articles

• Drugmakers brace for generic versions of biotech blockbusters (physorg.com)
• How to Cut Your Drug Costs (money.usnews.com)
• Can take for blood pressure in place of Norvasc that will not cause swelling of my feet and legs? (zocdoc.com)