Pharmaceutical Firms Research Articles

Firm Size and Pharmaceutical Mergers: A Cross-National, Cross-Sector Perspective

Mergers in the pharmaceutical sector warrant special scrutiny not only because of concerns over affordability of medicines, but also because the institutional details of pharmaceutical markets complicate the economic analysis of merger effects. Standard anti-trust analysis of mergers, in pharmaceuticals as in other industries, focuses on the proposed merger’s potential to raise prices or reduce innovation by eliminating potential competitors in individual product markets defined by substitutability and geography. Ignored by this exclusive focus on individual markets is the potential for horizontal mergers to increase market power though leverage and cross-market effects enabled by large portfolios that span individual markets. The thesis of this paper is that leverage and cross-market effects exist in pharmaceutical markets and can be exacerbated by mergers because larger firms have bargaining leverage and other advantages in dealing with reimbursement, marketing and selling in pharmaceutical markets. The relevant institutional details — and the potential risks to competition — differ across countries and between originator and generic drugs. An earlier paper outlined these potential cross-market effects in mergers of originator pharmaceutical firms in the US. This paper extends the analysis to examine how far similar cross-market effects are also a concern in mergers of originator firms in Europe and for generic firms in the US and Europe. It concludes that cross-market effects are potentially of greatest concern for originator pharmaceutical mergers and, to lesser extent, for generics mergers in the US, because the US healthcare system relies primarily on market forces rather than regulation to assure consumer welfare. While cross-market concerns could arise in pharmaceutical mergers in Europe, they are substantially mitigated by various regulatory features of European pharmaceutical markets.

A Comprehensive Review on Strategies for New Drug Discovery and Enhanced Productivity in Research and Development: Recent Advancements and Future Prospectives

At present, due to increased costs, decreased productivity, and lack of breakthrough technologies, many pharmaceutical firms face various challenges in their research and development projects. A variety of environmental concerns have also been gradually placing pressure on the pharmaceutical industry, including substantial profit losses due to patent expiration, more expensive health care facilities, and more stringent regulatory requirements. A system-oriented approach to finding innovative solutions is essential to this complicated problem. In our opinion, the key to solving these challenges is to increase the quality and number of creative and cost-effective new pharmaceutical products without incurring excessive R&D expenses, both for the future profitability of pharmaceutical industries and developments in healthcare. Our main emphasis is to highlight the strategies and models like Quality by Design, Lean Six Sigma, Organ-on-Chip, Chorus, AI, and so on in delivering innovations, which can be a good positive change for industries as to increase productivity in terms of time efficiency and innovation as well. These models focus on the creation and diffusion of knowledge internal to the firms. The major focus points should include critical investigation in innovations where the risk is high, as this can lead to the safer side of the development. We then propose specific strategies that could have the most substantial impact on improving R&D productivity. Besides this, the selection of strategy and models at the same point is as important as its implementation and its accurate selection can assist pharmaceutical companies to improve R&D organizations and their productivity.

Do Supply Chain Performance Influence Firm Profitability? A Predictive Approach in the Context of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

The competitive nature of the pharmaceutical industry necessitates that its multifaceted supply-chain be cost-efficient and profitable. This paper aims to ascertain the critical supply-chain financial indicators influencing pharmaceutical-supply-chain (PSC) performance, revealing its unique features and assessing these indicators’ effect on profitability. This paper measures the PSC performance of 55 public-limited Indian pharmaceutical firms, including multinational enterprises, integrating supply-chain financial variables and SCOR KPIs through a ten-year timeline. The critical supply-chain-performance indicators (SCPIs) are identified from the measured set through factor analysis. A panel data random effect model is developed, linking these critical SCPIs and profitability to understand their significant influence on profitability. This paper has evidenced the existence of three critical SCPIs, revealing working capital efficiency, material flow efficiency and investment efficiency. It has also proved the significant influence of these SCPIs on firms’ profitability and has brought out the importance of material flow efficiency in terms of inventory and distribution efficiency as a leading contributing factor for profitability. This paper contributes to finding key PSC performance features and their vital role in pharmaceutical firms’ profitability. Supply-chain managers can enhance PSC’s specific performance areas to be cost-efficient and can increase the firm’s profitability.

Product Complexity and Strategic Alliance on Drug Approval

Management of the business-government relationship is critical for firm performance in regulated industries. In this paper, we predict a U-shaped relationship between product complexity and the time to approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Moreover, we argue that this association is contingent on the types of strategic alliances (i.e., R&D alliance, Marketing alliance) of the focal firm in that those alliances help FDA and pharmaceutical companies achieve harmony. Using the approved drugs by FDA from 1999 to 2016 as the sample, our hypotheses are supported by the empirical analysis on US pharmaceutical firms. The findings have important implications to achieving harmony between pharmaceutical firms and regulatory agencies.

The Optimal Diversification Strategy in Pharmaceutical Industry: Balance-centred or Hetero-centred?

Due to high uncertainty of product development and business environment, firm-level diversification has been regarded as one of the most effective methods in pharmaceutical firms. In previous study, firm-level diversification was discussed by different value chains of market, product, and technology. However, in most cases, the diversification itself was adopted in a simple manner although its property contains different aspects and the results varies depending on the diversity property of selected index. In addition, the existing approach for measuring firm’s product/market diversification using sales information distinguished by standard industry classification cannot provide direct implication as different strategies are made for market and product diversification. Therefore, this study examines the effects of firm-level diversification on business and innovation performances in pharmaceutical firms by considering (1) three diversification types: market, product, and technology, (2) clear separation between market and product diversification, and (3) two diversification perspectives: balance-centred and hetero-centred. For empirical analysis, an integrated firm-level data set combining from Medtrack, Orange Book, Compustat and Total Patent database is used. From the result, in case of market diversification, less market heterogeneity causes significant influence on business performance. For product and technology, a concentrated and greater heterogeneity of product diversification are turned out to promote business performance, while the more intensive and heterogeneous technology diversification has been shown to improve innovation performance.

2020 American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology Consensus Conference on Professionalism and Ethics: A Consensus Conference Report

2020 American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology Consensus Conference on Professionalism and Ethics: A Consensus Conference Report

Modelling two-way relationship between innovation and internationalisation: does learning by export matter?

This study has picked up an essential question for the Indian pharmaceutical industry, whether innovation and internationalisation follow a two-way relationship during the product patent regime. This study analyzes the role of product, process and variety of innovation on exporting activities of 168 pharmaceutical firms from 2006 to 2013. For this purpose, this study applies two-stage least square probit and tobit model on innovation and export equation separately. The results show the feedback relation between export and innovative performance while there is a differential effect of product and process innovation on exporting. The results strongly support the learning-by-exporting and product-life cycle hypothesis. European origin firms are more likely to be innovative and export-oriented, while U.S. origin firms influence the firms' innovative performance. Business strategy should take account of benefits from the dynamic interaction of innovative and exporting activities and make their strategic decisions carefully.

Lonza invests in mRNA, small molecules in Visp

Lonza has expanded beyond its Swiss roots to become one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical services firms, but as two new announcements show, its site in Visp, Switzerland, remains at its core. ...

The effects of university–industry collaboration in preclinical research on pharmaceutical firms’ R&D performance: Absorptive capacity’s role

AbstractPharmaceutical firms frequently engage in preclinical research collaboration with universities. Many of these collaborative preclinical research projects are conducted by firms’ subsidiaries. In this setting, the challenge of transferring knowledge from university–industry collaborations (UICs) to internal research and development (R&D) increases, since knowledge has to be transferred twice: to the subsidiary and to the parent. To benefit from tacit and complex knowledge obtained through collaboration with academic partners, firms need to have a high absorptive capacity. However, existing research on absorptive capacity's effect on the efficacy of UIC has provided mixed results, and the knowledge transfer mechanisms remain unclear, particularly in the case of basic (or preclinical) research and of the complex knowledge transfer process from subsidiaries’ collaborative efforts. Building on the knowledge‐based view and following a multidimensional perspective of absorptive capacity, this study investigates the role a firm's capabilities play in successful university knowledge integration in a firm's internal R&D. Therefore, this paper analyzes both parent firms’ UICs and their subsidiaries’ UICs in basic (preclinical) research. The results of our longitudinal analysis of a unique panel data set of 56 global pharmaceutical firms indicate that firms do successfully exploit valuable knowledge from preclinical research UIC in internal R&D, measured by the number of performed clinical trials. This holds true for the UIC involving the parent firm and its subsidiaries. As transformative learning dimensions of absorptive capacity, high diversity in therapeutic activity and high R&D intensity levels strengthen the positive relationship between parents’ UIC and R&D performance. A high exploration intensity level of the firm and high diversity in therapeutic activity help to transfer the knowledge from subsidiaries’ preclinical research UIC to parents’ innovation projects.

Private and Social Returns to R&D: Drug Development and Demographics

Investment in intangible capital such as R&D has increased dramatically since the 1990s. However, productivity growth remains sluggish in recent years. One potential reason is that a significant share of the increase in intangible investment is geared toward consumer products such as pharmaceutical drugs with limited spillovers to productivity. We document that a significant share of R&D spending in the United States is done by pharmaceutical firms and geared to developing drugs for older patients. Increased life expectancy and quality of life for the elderly increases welfare but may not be reflected in estimates of total factor productivity.

“Qué Bonita Mi Tierra”

AbstractEmploying an anticolonial and anticapitalist approach to HIV/AIDS, the activists of the Latina/o Caucus of ACT UP/NY pushed beyond a biomedical framework of “drugs into bodies” that tended to dominate the larger organization. As US queer racialized/colonial subjects, Latinx AIDS activists enacted a queer and feminist decolonial activism that looked past the continental United States to the global South. In Puerto Rico, Latinx AIDS activists helped establish the first chapter of ACT UP in a Spanish-speaking country. Together, the Latina/o Caucus and ACT UP/Puerto Rico spearheaded a campaign against the colonial policies of the United States, the corporate greed of island-based pharmaceutical firms, and the heteropatriarchal investments of church and commonwealth officials—conditions that exacerbated the disproportionate rates of HIV/AIDS among Puerto Rican island and diasporic communities. Through these efforts, Latinx AIDS activists transformed the domestic and global fight against AIDS into a queer, feminist, and decolonial endeavor.

Effects of Slack Resources on Technological Resource Divestiture of Global Pharmaceutical Firms: The Moderating Effect of Institutional Appropriability of Home Country

본 연구는 글로벌 제약 기업의 여유 자원이 기술 자산 정리에 미치는 영향에 대하여 살펴보았다. 또한 본국의 제도적 전유성이 여유 자원의 기술 자산 정리에 미치는 영향에 있어 어떠한 조절 효과를 하는지에 대하여서도 함께 고찰하였다. 이를 위해 기업의 대표적 기술 자산인 특허에 집중하여 연구를 진행하였다. 2007년부터 2016년까지 총 564개 기업 연도 자료를 이용하였다. 분석 결과, 여유 자원의 수준이 높을수록 기술 자산 정리를 활발히 하는 것으로 나타났다. 일반적으로 정리 활동은 결핍이 큰 상황에서 활발히 일어난다고 여겨져 왔으나, 본 연구 결과는 여유 자원이 높은 상황과 같이 풍요로운 경우에도 활발할 수 있다는 사실을 보여주고 있다. 제도적 전유성이 높은 국가에 본사가 위치한 글로벌 제약기업의 경우 여유 자원이 기술 자산 정리 활동에 미치는 영향력이 더욱 강화되었다. 그동안 간과되어 온 자산 정리 활동에 대한 여유 자원의 영향력을 살펴봄으로써 관련 연구의 폭을 넓힐 수 있을 것으로 기대한다.

NEXUS BETWEEN PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of interactive performance measurement systems on the employees’ psychological empowerment in the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan.
 Methodology: This research used a survey and the respondents were medical representative/detailer employees in the pharmaceutical firms in Pakistan. Data was collected from 390 responding out of 650 distributed questionnaires and analyzed by using Smart PLS.
 Main Findings: The outcomes of this study showed that the interactive performance measurement system has a positive and significant impact on the employees’ psychology in the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan.
 Applications of the study: This research showed that the interactive performance measurement system is a tool that can open the communication network between the managers and the employees which must be supported by maximum employees’ psychological empowerment so that can reach the company’s vision and mission, especially for the medical representative/detailer in the pharmaceutical company in Pakistan.
 Novelty/Originality of the study: This research showed how important psychological empowerment is for lower-middle level employees especially for the medical representative/detailer in order to improve the company’s performance by using the interactive performance measurement system in a pharmaceutical company in Pakistan.

COVID-19 vaccines: the dilemma when thinking as a patient

What is the truth about the conspiracy theory of the COVID-19 microchip vaccine? The outbreak of the COVID-19 witnessed a vicious race of pharmaceutical firms to develop a vaccine that ends this disaster. Claims were forwarded that some firms funded by well-known foundations are in the process of developing such a vaccine so people wide world can be tracked. Such claims may have been based on Mr. Bill Gate’s announcement in an interview that through vaccination "we will have some digital certificates" which would be used to show who had recovered, been tested and ultimately who received a vaccine but he made no mention of microchips. The conspiracy theory is spreading around the world and its supporters are on the increase among the public as well as many healthcare professionals. The spread of the virus has been attributed to the introduction of 5G technology and many religious leaders attributed the crisis to punishment from God to the spread of local wars and mass killing, torturing and killing of Muslims in China and Myanmar gay and lesbian movement and marriages.

Determinants influencing liquidity of pharmaceutical firms listed on the Hanoi Stock Exchange

Determinants influencing liquidity of pharmaceutical firms listed on the Hanoi Stock Exchange

Peeking Inside the Black Box: Inventor Turnover and Patent Termination

This study examines the consequences of inventor turnover for the termination of the patents they produced beforehand. The proponents of the knowledge-based view consider firms repositories of knowledge and inventors carriers of knowledge who create new inventions through recombination. I argue that because the knowledge about inventions resides with inventors, turnover among them may adversely affect the future use of their inventions due to the loss of tacit knowledge. As a result, firms are more likely to terminate the patents of inventors who have left than of inventors who remain. Further, the patterns of collaboration between departed inventors and others influence the aforementioned relationship. Analyses of the termination of patents, in the form of nonpayment of renewal fees, by pharmaceutical firms support the claims in the article. The findings have implications for how firms manage their knowledge portfolios in the face of inevitable inventor turnover and the resulting loss of tacit knowledge.

Assessing Impact of Liberalization on Financial Performance Sustainability of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry using Structure Conduct Performance Model

The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry is ranked third largest by volume and fourteenth by value. It thus accounts for 10% of world’s production by volume and 1.5% by value according to Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India. Recognizing the immense potential for growth of Indian pharmaceutical industry and its direct impact on Indian economy the present paper tries to analyze the market structure of the Indian pharmaceutical firms and assess how the sustainable profitability of firms is affected using structure conduct performance model. The study founds out the sustainable profitability is statistically related to firm size, export and import, raw material expenses, power use and wage intensity but there seems to be insignificant effect of market share and mergers and acquisition on firm’s performance in terms of sustainable profitability.

Regulating Conflicts of Interest in Medicine Through Public Disclosure: Evidence from a Physician Payments Sunshine Law

Hospital and healthcare administrators name high prescription drug costs as one of their largest problems. A significant body of research demonstrates that meals and honoraria from pharmaceutical firms to physicians leads to higher prescribing of expensive, brand name drugs, despite little difference in efficacy. Some administrators and scholars have advocated for mandatory disclosure of these payments in order to reduce this conflict of interest, but many practitioners believe disclosure has little effect on prescribing, and the empirical evidence is mixed. This paper uses a quasi-experiment of a 2009 payment disclosure policy in Massachusetts to estimate the causal impact of public disclosure on prescribing. The comprehensive data set includes all retail prescriptions for 262 drugs in nine drug classes written by 5,730 physicians in five states over 48 months. We show a significant postdisclosure reduction in brand name drug prescriptions by Massachusetts physicians, relative to control physicians in other states. These effects are driven by heavy prescribers of brand name drugs in the prepolicy period, particularly for drugs with large prepolicy sales forces. Effects are also detected before the first data were released, implying that the effects are not because patients or administrators responded to the disclosed payments. Instead, some physicians may have changed their payments and prescriptions behavior to avoid appearing biased. Taken in tandem with the many studies showing that pharmaceutical industry payments influence prescribing, this study suggests a strong role for mandatory public disclosure in reducing conflicts of interest in medicine and costly prescribing of brand name drugs. This paper was accepted by Stefan Scholtes, healthcare management.

Marketing Capabilities Model for Pharmaceutical Business in Thailand

There are few studies in the past which have worked on evaluating the capability of the marketing teams as the means of generating an effective strategy in terms of competiveness in the market and creation of advantage that is held by a firm in the market. However, the aim behind conducting this research is to find an effective mechanism or formula to have better performance in the export field, internationalization success, and marketing communication mainly by analyzing the role that is played by the marketing capabilities. Moreover, the researcher has mapped the relationship which exists between the capabilities and communication with the mediating impact of competitive strategy has also been evaluated in this research paper. The population of this study was the employees of different pharmaceutical firms of Thailand, and the sample was 300 entrepreneur of pharmaceutical business. The results and findings show that the impact of marketing capabilities has been favorable to enhance the export performance of the sector. Furthermore, the findings also indicate that the mediating variable of competitive strategy also positively mediates the relationship that exists between the variables of marketing capabilities and marketing communication. This study has significant implications on MC and export performance.

The Mediating Role of Employee Intrapreneurial Behavior in Nexus between Constructs of Internal Corporate Social Responsibility Practices and Organizational Outcomes

ABSTRACT The study explores how employees respond to internal CSR practices and contribute to organizational outcomes at the macro and micro-level with the mediating role of employee intrapreneurial behavior. Based on a primary data sample collected from 607 employees at 23 pharmaceutical firms in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam, using a structural equation model (SEM). The estimates results reveal the significant effects of employee perception of internal CSR dimensions on organizational performance and innovative behavior with the mediation role of employee intrapreneurial behaviors. However, the direct effect of internal CSR constructs on organizational outcomes is weakly significant. It is acknowledged that having a particular concern with the welfare of employees will boost the efficient outcomes of the organizations.