title: Generic medicines: solutions for a sustainable drug market?
abstract: Generic medicines offer equally high-quality treatment as originator medicines do at much lower prices. As such, they represent a considerable opportunity for authorities to obtain substantial savings. At the moment, the pharmaceutical landscape is changing and many pharmaceutical companies have altered their development and commercial strategies, combining both originator and generic divisions. In spite of this, the generic medicines industry is currently facing a number of challenges: delayed market access; the limited price differential with originator medicines; the continuous downwards pressure on prices; and the negative perception regarding generic medicines held by some key stakeholder groups. This could jeopardize the long-term sustainability of the generic manufacturing industry. Therefore, governments must focus on demand-side policies, alongside policies to accelerate market access, as the generic medicines industry will only be able to deliver competitive and sustainable prices if they are ensured a high volume. In the future, the generic medicines industry will increasingly look to biosimilars and generic versions of orphan drugs to expand their business.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium Herestraat 49, O&N 2, P.O. Box 521, 3000, Leuven, Belgium, pieter.dylst@pharm.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dylst
authors.forename: Arnold
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vulto
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Godman
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Simoens
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D017046:Cost Savings / Q000191:economics; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D016568:Drugs, Generic / Q000191:economics*; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D040541:Marketing / Q000458:organization & administration
chemical_list: D016568:Drugs, Generic