Adding Value in a Growth Industry

The spectacular success of Lilly s olanzapine, which came years after Johnson Johnson s risperidone and yet in the opinion of most psychiatrists it has the same profile, has taken everybody by surprise. First of all, all schizophrenics are diagnosed in all countries that can pay for the drug, and the disorder affects about 2% of the populations anywhere in the world, independent of race, culture, and economy. So, if everyone is diagnosed and treated, the only way the market can be generated for a new drug is if it is argued to doctors and patients to be so novel, and so 

This requires ingenuity of research and marketing alike. Lilly succeeded in several of the U.S. states—most of which pay for this chronic drug treatment—to make, according to the New York Times, the antipsychotic olanzapine the single largest line item in the budget. 

132 pqj. Qj,g account, readers may consult the New York Times article in the November 16, 2004 edition. 

Sometimes, the choice of comparator can backfire badly. Zocor Merck s Statin was run by Merck against Pfizer/Warner Lambert s Lipitor in another billion dollar study, and it was proven less effective. Merck made a huge favor to Pfizer that paid dearly but astutely to acquire Lipitor for its cardiovascular franchise. 

Much of the poblem can be attributed to the fact that many of the diseases requiring vaccine development affacquired in the developing world. A new tuber culosis vaccine and any HIV vaccine would be welcome in the developed as w 11 as the developing world, but a much needed malaria vaccine is only sought afte for the developing world. 

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