69 blockbusters face patent cliff

The pharmaceutical industry is teetering on the edge of an historic patent cliff that will see at least 69 blockbusters lose exclusivity putting more than US$300 billion in revenue at risk.

The analysis by pharma marketing researcher Dr Joanna Sadowska, known as Dr JoJo, garnered more than 750 reactions on LinkedIn in just 24 hours, indicating the level of concern across industry about the impact of looming patent losses.

It groups patent exclusivity losses in the US by year, commencing in 2025 and extending to 2037. The biggest revenue loss will be felt in 2028 by MSD when the world's biggest selling drug, Keytruda with sales of US$29.5 billion, goes off patent.