Big Pharma seeks to insulate itself from impact of 'patent cliff'

As the pharmaceutical industry hurtles ever closer towards the 'patent cliff,' Big Pharma is busy implementing strategies to lessen the impact of the loss of patent protection on some of the industry's biggest sellers on their collective bottom lines. In an effort to mitigate the impact, Big Pharma is seemingly investing as much time and energy into diversification as R&D. However, a new report by independent market analyst Datamonitor suggests that diversifying away from the core business of developing prescription drugs is not the cure to the pending ails of the patent cliff.

The 'patent cliff' looms large

Key patent expiries within the pharmaceutical sector will intensify from 2011 onwards, affecting some of the biggest brands in the industry, such as Pfizer's Lipitor (atorvastatin), driving down revenue growth for pharmaceutical companies.