Porter's Five Force in relation to Eli Lilly Threat of New Entrants Threat of new entrants is relatively high. Companies forming alliances are potential rivals. Even if earlier such company was not considered to be a threat, after merging with some research and development company or forming alliance with another pharmaceutical company it would become a rival to Eli Lilly. The threat is however weakened by significant research and development costs necessary to successfully enter the business. Eli Lilly’s focus on a relatively narrow market of sedatives and antidepressants weakens the threat of new entrants, but other products that form lesser part of company’s sales such as insulin and others are exposed to high threat of new entrants. The need of obtaining certificates and licenses also weakens the threat of new entrants. Discussed above leads to the conclusion that threat of new entrants is medium. Bargaining Power of Buyers It tends to be high in pharmaceutical business as main sales are done using whole sales. Institutions that purchase drugs in large quantities are considering the discounts that drug producers are willing to give and therefore are able to influence price. As long as Eli Lilly have competitors with similar products it is obvious that bargaining power of buyers is high for the industry. Buyers with smaller volumes of purchases do not influence price policy, but such buyers are outnumbered by wholesale buyers. It is also important that people purchasing drugs for themselves are usually covered by healthcare insurance and therefore are not interested in pulling price down. Yet the volumes of sales to such buyers are not significant. Bargaining Power of Suppliers It is relatively not high. There exi... ... middle of paper ... ...emand for prescription drugs over the next 25 years. The number of people between 45 and 64 years old will increase 41% by 2015. Given the rise in age population and life expectancy rates around the world and the level of pharmaceutical use by aging individuals, growth in the industry should remain in an upward trend. The pharmaceutical industry is relatively immune from the effects of economic cycles. Demand for the industry's product remains constant in up and down economic cycles as market demand is a function of the overall health of the population. However the globalization of the pharmaceutical industry increases the risk associated with foreign investments and exchange rates. The firms in this industry seek to minimize risks by using hedging practices such as foreign currency forward-exchange contracts, borrowing in foreign markets, and using currency swaps.
Background: Merck & Co. is an American pharmaceutical company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. In 1971 the United States approved the use of an MMR vaccine made by Merck, containing the Jeryl Lynn strain of mumps vaccine. In 1978 Merck introduced the MMR II, using a different strain of the rubella vaccine. In 1997 the FDA required Merck to conduct effectiveness testing of MMRII. Initially it was over 95%; to continue the license; Merck had to convince the FDA that the effectiveness stayed at a similar rate over the years.
... (2013) IMS health study points to a declining cost curve for U.S. medicines in 2012 Retrieved from http://www.imshealth.com/portal/site/ims/menuitem.d248e29c86589c9c30e81c033208c22a/?vgnextoid=8659cf4add48e310VgnVCM10000076192ca2RCRD&vgnextchannel=437879d7f269e210VgnVCM10000071812ca2RCRD&vgnextfmt=default
Lehman, Bruce. 2003. “The Pharmaceutical Industry and the Patent System”. International Intellectual Property Institute. Pages 1-14.
Main Issue In 2000, Rich Kender, Vice President of Financial Evaluation and Analysis at Merck & Company was discussing the opportunity of investing in licensing, manufacturing and marketing of Davanrik, a drug originally developed to treat depression by LAB Pharmaceuticals. LAB proposed to sell the rights of all the future profits made from the successful launch of Davanrik at the cost of an initial fee, royalty payments and additional payments as the drug completed each stage of the approval process. Merck & Company's organizational goal is to constantly refresh its drug development portfolio and reach as many customers as possible during the patented period. So there was not only the potential of financial gain or quantitative aspect of the offer, but also the qualitative value which will be added by getting better positioning in the risky pharmaceutical industry.
Prescription drug prices rose three times faster than inflation in the decade between 1981 and 1991, making the pharmaceutical industry the nation's most profitable business. Prescription drugs even exceeded the rapidly rising inflation rate for all other medical services. They now represent at least 10% of all the medical costs in the United States.1
Although monopolies appear damaging at times, there are arguments that they are an advantage to society. Monopolies in the pharmaceutical industry drive companies to pursue research and development (R&D) efforts to gain new patents. According to a 1992 study, among the 24 US. Industry groups, pharmaceuticals dedicated 16.6% of their amounts to basic research, while all other industries averaged at 5.3% (Sherer 1307). This fact validates the incentive pharmaceutical companies have to get a patent and acquire more power. Pfizer encourages R&D because of the incentives and a want to obtain patents to receive more profit. Pfizer has to promote itself to be successful, creating a good brand image that consumers will trust. If the company can advertise successfully, more consumers will purc...
According to the Eli Lilly SEC filing, “Promotion, marketing, manufacturing, and distribution of human pharmaceutical and animal health products are extensively regulated in all major world markets.”17 In fact, in most major markets, all operations of the company are extremely regulated all at the expense of the company including Federal Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, European Medicines Agency, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Trade Commission, Office of Personnel Management.
There are three issues when it comes to the health care cost rising. The first is the rising cost in prescription drugs. The second area of rising cost is the increased technologies when it comes to the medical industry. The third problem is the aging population. Prescription drugs are the area of the fastest growing health care expense, and it is projected to grow at 20 to 30 percent each year over the next several years. There are many newer, more expensive drugs on the market, and the use of these prescriptions is exploding. In addition, with so much television advertising, many consumers ask their doctors for expensive, brand name drugs when there may actually be a generic drug that works just as well.
In that case, monopolist has to lower the price to sell more quantity that means the marginal revenue falls rapidly as compared to monopolistic demand. Considering this, Gilead Inc. realized the effect of lowering down of price versus quantity and found out the willingness to pay by buyer for this new drugs. Gilead has come up with the price of $85000 for the new medication in U.S. (Fig; 1). This price is too high for people’s expectations and created big problem for many insurance companies and Medicaid program however Gilead does not bother to consider and just enjoys the high profit (Fig;2). In this case, the quantity demanded is less however with high price there is high total profit whereas this situation brings another negative factor called deadweight loss. There are many people who are willing to buy the new oral hepatitis C medication but due to high price they could not afford it and results in deadweight loss (Fig. 3). Considering this, Gilead has identified the buyers not only in America but throughout the world. Gilead maximizes the profit with the help of price discrimination. As mentioned above in America, Gilead is offering Sovaldi at the price of $85000 whereas in UK and Europe it is $57000 and in developing countries it far cheaper up to $1000. Egypt, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are few of example of developing countries where
If the firm decides to pursue alternative two, Burroughs and Wellcome must construct a new pricing strategy. Some of the firm’s uncertainties consist of the public perception of the company, the implication of the current pricing strategy to revenues, the effect to the bottom line because of the reduction in price, the impact of an introduction of a new product from other competitors in the future, and the unclear outcome on profits due to regulatory constraints.
10. Collis, David, and Troy Smith. "Strategy in the Twenty-First Century Pharmaceutical Industry:Merck&Co. and Pfizer Inc." Harvard Business School, 2007: 8-12.
The case under analysis, Eli Lilly & Company, will be covering the positives and negatives with regards to the business situation and strategy of Eli Lilly. One of the major pharmaceutical and health care companies in its industry, Lilly focused its efforts on the areas of "drug research, development, and marketed to the following areas: neuroscience, endocrinology, oncology, cardiovascular disease, and women's health." Having made a strong comeback in the 1990's due to its remarkably successful antidepressant Prozac, was now facing a potential loss in profits with its patent soon to expire. The problem was not only the soon to expire patent on Prozac, but the fact that Prozac accounted for as much as 30% of total revenue was the reality Eli Lilly now faced. (Pearce & Robinson, 34-1)
Janssen is a division of Johnson and Johnsons that primarily focus on diseases that can help develop new strategies in improving prevention as well as developing vaccines and its accessibility to the world. The pharmaceutical company of J&J invests large amounts of money in research and development of its products. The competitive environment of Johnson and Johnson is very high for pharmaceutical companies due to which that many companies are releasing drug products and other devices. However, this company does not face any potential competitors due to which that it is a large company that provides a wide range of opportunities such as finances, and experiences. This leads to advantages compared to other competitors due to whom the pharmaceutical companies creates a barrier because of the high cost in research and development in medicine. In addition, Johnson and Johnson have to make sure that it has many suppliers for different categories for their products especially in medicine if one supplier causes shortages. Although suppliers do not bargain for the price values of its products, it still influences the price in the market in different countries. In addition, finding
PROBLEM STATEMENT Teva Pharmaceuticals, the first multinational pharmaceutical company in Israel, has become a successful global giant in the industry of generic drugs. After experiencing a long period of success and growth in the generic drug industry against some big western pharmaceuticals, the company had acquired many well known pharmaceutical companies and had achieved its goal of $1 billion. theory seemed to be in trouble in building a new strategy and vision to compete with the rapidly growing generic industry. They confronted two big issues as key hurdles in their way.
If buyers have a wider range of choice, i.e, they have the liberty to switch between products and services to get the same functions as the current product/service, then they have a higher bargaining power. However, if they are dependent on the product and even if the prices increase, they continue to use the same product, then they have a low bargaining power.