Losing Billion-Dollar Patents is Never Good for Share Price

In the world of big pharma, patents are more than just legal rights, they are strategic assets that protect competitive edge, innovation, and billions in revenue. 

AstraZeneca and Novo Nordisk take note.

AstraZeneca’s Forxiga UK patent was just invalidated after a court ruled it lacked an inventive step.

The NHS has spent some £300m a year on Forxiga for the last 7 years! Generics will soon enter the UK market and the price will fall 60 to 80% saving the UK tax payer many hundreds of million pounds.

Novo Nordisk failed to pay a $450 maintenance fee for its semaglutide (active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic.) patent in Canada.

Novo made $2.5bn a year for sales of these products in the Canadian market. Even at a 60% generics price drop this error will cost Novo a mere $1.5bn a year! The supplementary protection Novo had been granted for would have given them patent coverage through 2028, BUT only if the original patents remained in force; thus costing Novo $4.5bn!

Intangible assets like patents are strategic assets, not just legal tools.

And as evidenced here administrative diligence can be as critical as scientific innovation!

WHETHER YOU’RE A STARTUP OR A GLOBAL PHARMA GIANT, THE VALUE OF YOUR INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVE EDGE IS ONLY AS STRONG AS THE PROTECTION BEHIND IT.