Pfizer rivals face uphill struggle
pharmafile | October 24, 2003 | News story | |
Pharmaceutical companies attempting to keep up with Pfizer's industry lead have a battle on their hands, according to analysts Datamonitor.
New research suggests that Pfizer soon to become the senior partner with Celebrex marketing partner Pharmacia is set to run away with the industry number one spot, with a handful of former competitors trailing in its wake.
"Declining productivity, rafts of patent expiries and sliding investor confidence have made the pharmaceutical industry an increasingly tough place to return strong growth", Datamonitor warned. "The ability of big pharma to consistently return the double-digit growth seen in recent years is fading to be replaced by an environment where the weak will be separated from the strong".
Analysing the prospects of the five key big pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline and Wyeththe report claims Pfizer dominance could make these companies less appealing as licensing partners for R&D partners, while creating greater pressure to maintain share of market voice.
Dr Neal Hansen, Senior Pharmaceutical Analyst at Datamonitor, says Wyeth, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly have the potential to remain competitive in the short-term without the need for more aggressive product sourcing strategies.
"While both Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca combine this short-term strength with promising long-term prospects, Wyeth's future beyond 2005/6 is much more uncertain than that of its rivals, and may make it a candidate for more immediate action".
Meanwhile, he says GSK and BMS will need to take more extreme measures to support growth and maintain investor confidence. "While this may involve setting up new joint ventures and a greater degree of in-licensing as has been seen with GSK in the last 12 months, eventually these companies will each need to consolidate to survive", he said.
Datamonitor suggests that either Eli Lilly or AstraZeneca would be the best choice of merger partners for GSK, complementing the company's marketing strength with strong portfolios and pipelines.
