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Positioning
of Small Companies with the 'Megabrand' Scenario
A logical
question to ask is, will the concept of megabrands spell
death for smaller companies? Not according to Mr Rolf Stahel,
CEO of Shire Pharmaceuticals.
Mr
Stahel replied to IMS HEALTH, "Yes, the megabrand issue
applies to the big multinationals since they function in
the primary care market. However, 'megabrands' will not
be an issue for generic and OTC companies (whose markets
are different), and companies like Shire, the latter who
function in the 'speciality' sector targeting specialists."
Mr
Stahel explained that in the R&D setting the implications
are different for large versus small companies. "Drugs with
potential in the primary care setting are assessed in a
much larger pool of people, and as trials progress, the
efficacy as defined at an earlier discovery stage, in general
is less dramatic and a parallel occurs in the side effect
issue (i.e. more side effects are registered), with the
result that these companies have to reassess their earlier
estimates," stated Mr Stahel, "With smaller companies looking
at more 'niche' areas, the research pool of patients is
smaller, with the result that the efficacy and side effects
estimates seen in the discovery phase tend to parallel much
more readily those witnessed in late clinical testing. Megabrands
will not kill off the smaller company."
For
further details about Shire and its strategy, see IMS HEALTH's
Pharmaceutical
Company Profile, which includes more of the interview
with the CEO.
01 Feb 2000, Copyright IMS HEALTH
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