Generic drug companies are standing on the cusp of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
In the next five years, a total of $290 billion in prescription drug sales are expected to lose
patent
protection, making brand-name pharmaceutical companies vulnerable to
generic competition. The effect this so-called "patent cliff"
will have on the generics space cannot be overstated.
Take cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor for example, which peaked with annual sales of $13 billion in 2006. In spite of
Pfizer Inc.'s (NYSE: PFE) greatest efforts to hold
market share
and protect its crown jewel, sales of Lipitor fell by 50% the first
week it went off patent in late December 2011. But for Ranbaxy
Laboratories, it was a watershed moment, reaping $500 million in sales
for its generic version of Lipitor in just the first six months the drug
had gone off patent protection.
The generic space is littered with success stories just like this.
Activis Inc. (NYSE: ACT), which has rolled out a series of copycat drugs in the past year that includes authorized versions of Lipitor and
Johnson and Johnson's (NYSE: JNJ) attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Concerta, saw its share price jump 44% in 2012.
(more)
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Martin Armstrong
is back for another installment… The Euro is crumbling. So is the yen.
The beneficiary is the dollar which has been going up. This is the
future of things to come. There’s no turning back now. Money printing is
out of control and so is sovereign debt. This will eventually lead to
some type of debt jubilee, either total or partial, but there’s really
no other way out. Governments, by their very nature, will always spend
more than they have and make up the difference by taxing and borrowing.
No one in government ever wants to tell people that the party is over.
Therefore, it goes on and on until there’s a major crash and the system
has to be reset. According to Martin, it’s down the road a ways, but not
too far.
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The
ratio briefly dropped below the low made back in November of 2008
before bouncing higher in today’s session. It came very close to
matching the October 2008 low. It could be that we have gotten the
answer to our question posed previously whether the gold shares would
need to move lower against the price of bullion before the HUI would
finally bottom out. I want to see a bit more subsequent action to feel
that has been confirmed.
Today John Embry told King World News that in the silver market there
will be a force majeure on the COMEX because of the massive short
positions held by JP Morgan. But first, here is what Embry, who is
chief investment strategist at Sprott Asset Management, had to say
regarding gold: “I’ve been following the gold scene for 30 years, and I
believe it’s been subject to a suppression scheme for probably the last
25 years. But I have never seen anything quite like what’s gone on
lately.