Raft of pending patent expiries threaten cardiovascular blockbusters

The cardiovascular drug sector has been the one of the mainstays of the pharmaceutical industry over the last 20 years but, as the market matures, sales growth is expected to be negligible as leading brands lose patent protection and companies are unable to develop new products to replace revenue streams.

The loss of patent protection has been deemed as a "patent cliff" and affects the whole branded pharmaceuticals industry, but is particularly pronounced within cardiovascular diseases, with six of the current top 10 brands, totalling sales of some $30.9 billion in the USA, Japan and major European Union countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, losing intellectual property coverage between 2010 and 2013, according to a new report by independent market analyst Datamonitor, titled: Cardiovascular market overviews - Raft of patent expiries threaten blockbusters.

The use of cardiovascular drugs continues to grow