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The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of generic medicine competition on the market share growth and pricing of originator brand medicine in the South African private pharmaceutical market.

Regression analysis is applied to market share data of originator brand drugs that have been exposed to competition from generic substitutes, based on an agency model of the prescribing physician, the pharmacist or the medical scheme.

The results indicate that the price of an originator brand medicine relative to the weighted average price of its generics has a significant negative impact on the change of its market share. Investigations into the prices of the originator brands, in relation to the number of generic equivalents in the market, indicate that the number of generics available in a specific market has a significant positive impact on the relative price of originators, thereby making originators relatively more expensive compared to their generic competitors. At the same time, the results show that the absolute price of the originator brand medicines declines as the number of generic equivalents in the market increases.

The results indicate that, for all modules pooled together, the relative price of the originator product to that of the generic equivalent, is responsible for a significant reduction in the relative change in the market share of the originator medicine. When analysed on the level of anatomical class, or the individual molecule, results are not consistent. For affordable healthcare, the results support the reduction in barriers to entry for generic medicine. Furthermore, the results support education and incentives for doctors, pharmacists and end‐users to develop generic alternatives as trusted brands in their own right.

This study quantitatively assesses the effect that generic medicine competition exerts on the market share of originator medicines in South Africa.

This paper aims to examine whether authorized generics (AGs) have influenced prices and market shares in markets for molecules facing generic competition in South Africa. AGs (clones), which are identical to the originator brands, offer a solution for originator companies to protect their markets from independent generic (IG) competition. IG competitors have claimed that AGs have a negative impact on pricing and competition.

In a retrospective analysis, pricing and quantity data for 24 months post generic entry were extracted for oral solid dosage form products which experienced generic entry into their markets between 2005 and 2011, divided into “Authorized generic affected” and “no authorized generic” markets. A series of indices was calculated, as well as market shares of competing originator and generic products, and the number of generic competitors determined. Indices and market share data for clone affected and unaffected groups were tested at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months using unmatched t-tests, at a 95 per cent significance level.

None of the evaluated pricing indices showed a consistently significant difference existing between AG-affected and no-AG samples. The only variable for which the two samples consistently differed was market shares, with originator brands experiencing significantly more market share erosion in AG-affected markets. Pricing levels of generics and originator products as well as growth of numbers of generic competitors were similar in both AG-affected and no-AG groups.

A study of this nature on the impacts of AGs in the South African generics has not been previously published and reflects the situation particular to the country.

Taking an emerging country perspective, this paper aims to investigate consumers’ preferences for over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, regarding three attributes: country-of-origin (COO), brand status (branded versus generic) and price. The second purpose is to test the effect of COO and brand status on consumers’ perceptions of quality, trust and purchasing intentions.

After a preliminary qualitative study, consumers answered a follow-up questionnaire to evaluate eight product combinations (COO/brand status/price) for three categories of OTC drugs. Conjoint analysis allowed assessing the importance of COO compared to brand status and price, while ANOVA was used to test the effect of COO and branding status on consumers’ responses.

Findings show that, in an emerging countries context, COO is less important than brand status in consumers’ preferences. COO and brand status have a greater effect on consumers’ perceptions of drug quality and trust than on purchasing intentions.

The limited number of factors (brand status/COO/price) could have amplified their relative importance.

Pharmaceutical companies from industrialized countries, exporting generic drugs to emerging markets, can benefit from the favorably perceived COO of their drugs and thus help the acceptance of generic drugs in these markets.

The study has two major contributions. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of consumer behavior in the pharmaceutical field. It also transposes the framework on COO to the context of an emerging country: Tunisia.

There is a consensus suggesting that the theoretical underpinning associated with supply chain quality management practices remain evolutionary to current thinking. Therefore, this study aims to explore how absorptive capacity (AC) supports supply chain quality integration (SCQI) by building product and process quality within a supply chain (SC).

A comparative case study of global pharmaceutical manufacturers in a developing market was undertaken. A two-round qualitative research method was designed to collect data through 54 semi-structured interviews with pharmaceutical managers and senior managers.

The results demonstrate that AC is essential to the development of SCQI because of its ability to use valuable strategic and operational knowledge, which is important when improving consistent internal product and process quality, along with establishing a robust SC design. The authors found that AC enables companies to design their quality and continuously improve their products and processes among their SC members.

The authors acknowledge that these sets of findings are difficult to generalise to other sectors, however, the authors are confident that they can be extrapolated to other companies in the pharmaceutical industry.

The study develops a framework to support practitioners and decision makers to leverage their AC towards facilitating their SCQI practices.

This study explains the role of the AC process in relation to SCQI practices, in the context of the pharmaceutical SC. The study profiles the characteristics of dynamic capabilities to increase the companies’ competencies, processes and resources.

Cheaper generic anti-retroviral medicines are encouraged and often prescribed in South Africa for HIV/AIDS treatment. However, the medicines’ acceptance rate is relatively low. This has been attributed to inadequate brand knowledge of the bioequivalence of generic medicines. Studies have examined how brand knowledge structure lead to purchase. The contributions of brand relationship builders (i.e. trust and satisfaction), which are indicators of sustainable purchase, are rarely considered. This study aims to adapt Esch, Langner, Schmitt and Geus’ (2006) brand knowledge structure and relationship model to examine the impact of South African young adults’ brand knowledge structure (brand awareness, brand image and brand beliefs) and trust on brand satisfaction and purchase.

Cross-sectional data was quantitatively collected from 207 young adults through self-administered, paper-based questionnaires. Data was analysed with structural equation modelling.

Brand awareness, image, trust and belief in efficacy positively influenced purchase. All these factors, except brand awareness, positively led to satisfaction. The tested adapted model explained 53.0 and 58.5% variances of purchase and brand satisfaction, respectively.

Considering how much brand knowledge structure and trust explained purchase and satisfaction from the tested model, South African government, pharmaceutical marketers and consumer interest groups should educate young adults about the bioequivalence, safety and efficacy of generic medicines. With greater knowledge of these qualities, satisfaction is gained from purchase decision.

Instead of the usual examination of demographic differences in generic medicine beliefs and perception, this study contributes by revealing brand-related drivers of purchase and satisfaction.

The COVID-19 pandemic creates inefficiencies in the health-care system by having devastating consequences. It has demonstrated how inefficiencies in the health system can have a significant impact on social cohesion, economic growth and public confidence in government. The main purpose of this study is to explore the contemporary challenges faced by the pharmaceutical industry in Europe.

This study used a systematic literature review method and adopted inclusion and exclusion criteria after constructive reviews of articles from Web of Science and Scopus databases along with the ranked journals in the Chartered Association of Business Schools to search the following key terms “challenges in the European pharmaceutical industry” during the period from 2011 to 2022. The terms are set to be searched in the publications’ titles, abstracts and keywords.

This study reviewed 57 papers, and the systematic review revealed the vulnerability of the European pharmaceutical industry, such as the default patent system, ineffective research and development, debate on the role of alliances, low level of expertise in the European health-care system, pharmaceutical supply chain management and other issues.

This study suggests that future research may explore the challenges of multisectoral and cross-country perspectives to get a better understanding, and for the long-term sustainability of public pharmaceutical spending, new models of enhancing research investments are needed, and Europe can still play a leading role in its tradition structure within capturing innovative ideas.

It provides new useful insights to policymakers, global leaders and managers to devise policies to achieve a performance-oriented culture in their institutions and firms.

The pharmaceutical sector has recognized the influence of social determinants of health. It moves toward sustained sound health of people to have a flourishing pharmaceutical sector.

There is an insufficient study on the contemporary challenges of the European pharmaceutical industry. This study presents the argument that earlier studies ignored the contemporary issues facing the European pharmaceutical industry from a comprehensive and wider angle. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic is a recent occurrence, and it causes inefficiency in the health-care sector, where the pharmaceutical industry plays a crucial role; importantly, this topic is emerging and underresearched in the existing literature. There is also a lack of systematic literature review studies in this field.

This paper aims to review the healthcare supply chain (HSC) literature along various areas and to find out the gap in it.

In total, 143 research papers were reviewed during 1996-2017. A critical review was carried out in various dimensions such as research methodologies/data collection method (empirical, case study and literature review) and inquiry mode of research methodology (qualitative, quantitative and mixed), country-specific, targeted area, research aim and year of publication.

Supply chain (SC) operations, performance measurement, inventory management, lean and agile operation, and use of information technology were well studied and analyzed, however, employee and customer training, tracking and visibility of medicines, cold chain management, human resource practices, risk management and waste management are felt to be important areas but not much attention were made in this direction.

Mainly drug and vaccine SC were considered in current study of HSC while SC along healthcare equipment and machine, hospitality and drug manufacturing related papers were excluded in this study.

This literature review has recognized and analyzed various issues relevant to HSC and shows the direction for future research to develop an efficient and effective HSC.

The insight of various aspects of HSC was explored in general for better and deeper understanding of it for designing of an efficient and competent HSC. The outcomes of the study may form a basis to decide direction of future research.

The quality and reliability of medical communication for branded drug adoption is extremely critical, not only for safeguarding patient interests but also for ensuring successful investments by multinational pharmaceutical firms. This paper predicts doctors’ prescribing intentions based on communication relationship among factors for late entrant branded drugs, compared with pioneering brand choice, for treating chronic diseases such as hypertension.

The constructs were validated with structural equation model for a sample set of 151 doctors from private hospitals in the National Capital Region of India.

This research reveals communication drivers and draws on theory to suggest that the doctor’s behavioural prescription intentions, subject to social influence from their colleagues, leads to lower adoption responses.

Given that limitations on sample size are often unavoidable, this study reveals that, due to the availability of substituting brands, alternate therapeutic routes and lack of availability of a practical guide for prescription, a communication model needs to be developed and validated.

Furthermore, managers of pharmaceutical firms should differentiate between the effects of direct and indirect communication–integration efforts for minimizing uncertainty in drug adoption in the context of the fragmented and unpredictable Indian market.

A late entrant may lose its dominant market share to alternate brands from other suppliers due to communication gaps in an unstructured market, leading to low adoption intentions. The study provides business theorists, drug marketers and health-care professionals with unique insights into specific communication drivers of prescribing decisions, aimed at ensuring reliable and appropriate drug adoption in Indian markets.

The World Health Organization estimated that in 1999 roughly one-third of the world's population lacked access to essential medicines that would have saved or improved their lives. Our analysis focuses on how pharmaceutical product patents restrict access to essential medicines in developing countries. It is well established that pharmaceutical product patents provide little incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop new medicines designed to treat diseases prevalent in developing countries or to market in developing countries those patented medicines developed to treat diseases prevalent in developed countries. Economists have developed theoretical models showing that these incentives could be changed if (1) developing countries provided intellectual property protection for new pharmaceutical innovations and (2) an international regulatory framework were established to facilitate pharmaceutical companies setting lower prices in developing countries and higher prices in developed countries for patented medicines. We develop an index of property rights in pharmaceutical innovations covering 129 countries from 1960 to 2005. It shows that in 1960 only a handful of countries provided significant protection for pharmaceutical innovations, but by 2005 over 95 percent of countries in our sample provided significant statutory protections. However, an international framework to allow pharmaceutical companies to price discriminate has not been put in place. We conclude that international price discrimination mechanisms, compulsory patent licenses, and regional patent buyouts are not viable mechanisms for providing access to essential medicines to patients in developing countries. Global patent buyouts are more likely to achieve this goal, as they are not founded on an impractical separation of pharmaceutical markets in developing and developed countries and they provide critical incentives to develop new essential medicines.