The Next Generic Attack: Brilinta (Ticagrelor), Xarelto (Rivaroxaban), Tradjenta (Linagliptin)

The Next Generic Attack: Brilinta® (Ticagrelor), Xarelto® (Rivaroxaban), Tradjenta® (Linagliptin) and…

With almost 30,000 Drug Master Files (DMFs) submitted to the FDA, reviewing the filings of only the first quarter of 2015, provides an indicator on the current areas of focus of generic pharmaceutical companies. A detailed evaluation of the 241 filings for active pharmaceutical ingredients only, made us find some interesting trends worth sharing.

European Blockbuster battle!

Of the 241 DMFs, 21 APIs had more than one DMF filing and accounted for 25% of the total filings. Interestingly, 20 DMFs were for only three APIs:

AstraZeneca’s blood thinner Brilinta® (Ticagrelor), with 2014 sales of $476 million, already had DMF filings from Dr. Reddy’s, Mylan, Polpharma and Zhejiang Hisun at the end of last year. With a maximum of 9 new filings from players like Teva, Alembic, Lek and others, AstraZeneca should brace itself for some serious generic onslaught.

While the 9 filings for Ticagrelor were the most for any single compound, not far behind is Bayer’s own blood thinner: Xarelto® (Rivaroxaban). With 7 submissions, the focus of the generic companies is understandable as Rivaroxaban had sales in excess of $3 billion and year-on-year growth in excess of 70%. However, patents currently protect the product till 2020, so patience is needed before generics can access this golden opportunity.

Interestingly, 4 filings for Linagliptin (Boehringer’s antidiabetic Tradjenta®) make it yet another European pharma giant lead the list of products being subjected to generic competition, and make us wonder why European blockbusters are preferred over others?

Exclusive but not patented

There are products, which have no patent protection, but the market is protected by FDA granted exclusivities (learn more on patents and exclusivities from the FDA website).

An opportunity for generic companies to gain significant market share of a multi-hundred million dollar market, without any litigation risk or cost is something companies dream about.

As the time of exclusivity expiry nears, Clobazam, Tetrabenazine, Hydroxyprogesterone Caproate, Deferiprone and Trypan Blue will all see increased generic activity as their Drug Master Files have been submitted.

Fragmented Activity

More than 80% of the DMF submissions were made by companies who filed only a single product. While the products varied from simple compounds like Sodium Chloride to biologics like Plasmid DNA, over 140 companies filed DMFs in the first quarter with almost 30 submitting a DMF for the first time.

An expanding list of suppliers who support DMFs increases options for sourcing managers. However, a fragmented supplier base limits the industrial scale companies can achieve and raises concerns regarding how many can successfully sustain compliance standards under increased regulatory scrutiny?

The Next Generic Wave

Blood thinners are an opportunity few generic companies wish to pass on. Boehringer’s (Dabigatran Etexilate), Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (Apixaban) and Bayer’s (Rivaroxaban) are novel compounds in this category which had combined sales in excess of $5 billion last year.

While Dagibatran saw a flurry of activity over the last two years with almost 15 DMF filings, there were no additional filings this year.

On the other hand, Apixaban, which generated $774 million for Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2014, has only one DMF filing at the moment and that too was done over a year ago. The export data out of India, reviewed on PharmaCompass, for Apixaban, indicates that product development is already complete so it is just a matter of time before the filings begin.

Conclusion:

Product and supplier selection is a critical component of every generic company’s strategy. The PharmaCompass database is designed to assist professionals in business development, marketing and sourcing to take more informed decisions.

If you would like us to share our shortlist of 241 DMFs, we will be happy to send it to you by email (click here). You can also access our compilation of the 2014 annual reports of major pharmaceutical companies to review the various products along with their revenues (click here):

Table: Products with more than one DMF filing in Q1 2015

PRODUCT NAME	DMF FILINGS
TICAGRELOR	9
RIVAROXABAN	7
LINAGLIPTIN	4
APREPITANT	3
CINACALCET HYDROCHLORIDE	3
ATAZANAVIR SULFATE	2
ATORVASTATIN CALCIUM TRIHYDRATE	2
CLOBAZAM	2
CLOFARABINE	2
DEFERASIROX	2
DIMETHYL FUMARATE	2
EZETIMIBE	2
ICATIBANT ACETATE	2
LURASIDONE HYDROCHLORIDE	2
MELPHALAN HYDROCHLORIDE	2
OLANZAPINE	2
OLMESARTAN MEDOXOMIL USP	2
PRASUGREL HYDROCHLORIDE	2
RIVASTIGMINE USP	2
ROSUVASTATIN CALCIUM	2
SOLIFENACINE SUCCINATE	2

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Image Credit : MARS ATTACKS (wrapper) 2010 by CHRISTOPHER DOMBRES// modification: Mars has been replaced by Generic is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“ The article is based on the information available in public and which the author believes to be true. The author is not disseminating any information, which the author believes or knows, is confidential or in conflict with the privacy of any person. The views expressed or information supplied through this article is mere opinion and observation of the author. The author does not intend to defame, insult or, cause loss or damage to anyone, in any manner, through this article.”

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