It is difficult to think of an area where the pharmaceutical industry is not under siege these days. Regulators spawning new rules, governments putting price caps in place, safety advocates demanding more information on side effects, health maintenance plans implementing their own cost controls, and expiration dates on patents coming around--all are putting the squeeze on Big Pharma, and it has been reflected in industry earnings.
Patent expirations alone will wipe out $80bn in projected revenue, says Patrick Homer, life science sales and marketing practice principal at SAS.
As a result, pharma is now looking to analytics technology and applications to do the same for its industry that they did for the financial services and retail industries five to seven years ago, he said. The goal, as always, is to maximize margins.
If this sounds like a game of catch-up, that is essentially because it is.
Source: CRM Buyer, http://crmbuyer.com