Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) is a research-based, worldwide pharmaceutical and related heath care products company. BMS was founded in 1989, and currently operates through three main business divisions: Pharmaceuticals, Nutritionals and Other Health Care. Within Pharmaceuticals, BMS’ key areas of interest are cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, virology, oncology, neuroscience and immunology.
Since the merger to form the company in 1989, BMS has consistently been in the top ten research-based pharmaceutical companies in terms of pharmaceutical sales. However, in 2006, BMS reported its third consecutive year of revenue loss, which looks to threaten this position. The company is going through a transitional period, whereby many older products have seen considerable declines in sales due to generic competition whilst newer products begin to establish themselves in the market place.
This period of transition has been made more difficult due to patent issues surrounding Plavix, the company’s top selling product. BMS and its partner sanofi-aventis have been involved in litigation with Apotex since March 2002, following the filing by Apotex of an ANDA for clopidogrel with the FDA. In March 2006, the parties initially agreed a settlement, granting Apotex a royalty-bearing licence to manufacture and sell a generic clopidogrel bisulphate product in the US effective 1st June 2011, three months prior to the patent expiration. However, this agreement failed to receive antitrust clearance from the state attorneys general and consequently the suspended patent litigation was reinstated.
Problems deepened in August 2006, when Apotex decided to launch its 75 mg clopidogrel bisulphate tablets, despite the outstanding patent litigation over the drug. In response, sanofi-aventis and BMS moved for a preliminary injunction ordering Apotex to halt its sales of clopidogrel. On 31st August 2006, it was announced that the US District Court for the Southern District of New York had granted this injunction. However, the Court also ordered sanofi-aventis and BMS to post a bond in the amount of US$400 million to provide security to Apotex should the Court conclude at the end of the patent litigation that the injunction was wrongly imposed.
The patent litigation between Apotex and BMS/sanofi-aventis ended on 15th February 2007 and, in June 2007 it was annonuced that BMS/sanofi-aventis had been successful and Apotex’ generic product will not be released until 2011. The saga surrounding the litigation has already seen Peter Dolan, the company’s chief executive for five years, leave the company and has led to several rumours of a merger between BMS and sanofi-aventis. There could be several significant long-term implications to arise from this litigation.
BMS is looking to refresh its product portfolio, adopting a strategy of increased R&D investment despite decreased income. To this end, BMS’ research to sales ratio has increased from 12.2 per cent in 2003, to 17.1 per cent in 2006. Higher levels of expenditure have reaped dividends for the company with five new products launched between 2005 and 2006. Orencia, Sprycel, Emsam, Atripla and Baraclude signify the first stages of BMS’ new direction and profile.
This new strategic analysis report Bristol-Myers Squibb: Performance, Products, Pipeline and Potential, provides a complete and critical review of the company and includes unique and independent assessments and forecasts of key products. The report is updated on a quarterly basis. Buyers of the web edition receive quarterly reports for a year. Buyers of the print/pdf editions receive the latest version. All formats are the same price. |
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