Factors Affecting the Product Life Cycle of Generic Medicines

Abstract

Background: Product life cycle (PLC) refers to the time ranging from when a product is introduced into the market to when it is taken off the shelves. The PLC management can guarantee product survival and prevent its decline. Objectives: This study investigated generic antibiotic PLCs and detected factors affecting them in the competitive pharmaceutical market of Iran to improve the PLC management of such drugs. Methods: To study the PLC of antibiotics, data were collected from 2002 to 2017, and then the PLC curves were analyzed. Accordingly, factors affecting the PLC of antibiotics were illustrated in two sections: all PLC curves and the PLC curves with one sales peak. Using a generalized linear model combined with a machine learning approach, we identified the sales patterns and the effect of the product-related and the competition-related factors on the PLC curves, peak height, and the time to reach peak sales. Results: According to the findings, 16, 11.87, 13.03, and 59% of the antibiotics had linear, binomial, one-peak, and oscillating sales patterns, respectively. The most crucial factors affecting the PLC shape were the quality, microbial spectrum, dosage forms, number of competitors, and entry arrangement. Conclusions: This study examined factors affecting the PLC patterns of generic pharmaceutical products. The findings would provide more insights into the generic pharmaceutical market as one of the less-studied markets in many countries.

Development of Herbal Topical Anesthetic Mucoadhesive Spray for oral Cavity using Customer-Centric Approach

“…However, the result indicates that stakeholders related to social value do not have a significant impact on the intention to prescribe the herbal topical anesthetic mucoadhesive spray to healthcare professionals. Our result disagrees with a finding that stakeholders, patients, and payers significantly impact medicines [72] and herbal medicine prescriptions [35,36]. This is possible due to the difference in participation in this study, which includes not only physicians but also dentists and community pharmacies.…”

“…Although media, one of the promotion tools, could enhance consumers' product awareness, it was not efficiently providing essential information to consumers [75]. Moreover, our study agrees with the study of Sharifnia et al [72] that the promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies do not influence the prescribing decisions of physicians. This might be associated with healthcare advertising regulations in Thailand that limit promotional activities for pharmaceutical products, including herbal medicines.…”

A Clustering Approach to Identify the Organizational Life Cycle

“…The generic pharmaceutical industry has fundamental differences from global brand producers [45]; therefore, OLC management during different stages is likewise different. On the basis of the study results, generic pharmaceutical firms in Iran are mainly in the maturity and growth stages or shifting between these two phases; therefore, efficiency [46] is the critical point for long-term survival.…”

“…This can enhance product-oriented innovation, which leads to domestic competition through enhancing product quality and differentiation, and strengthens exports to other countries [37,57]. Another solution for enhancing the performance of the R&D sector, sales growth and open innovation in the generic industry were suggested by Mousavi et al (2022) [37]. They mentioned that generic companies can gain more profits by merging the R&D and marketing sectors through information and resource sharing, and reducing costs [37].…”

“…Another factor in the literature that is considered to be a reason for the shortened life cycle of organizations, declining sales growth, and entry into the decline stage that can be applied to the pharmaceutical market of Iran is competition [59]. There is a competitive situation in the generic pharmaceutical market of Iran [45], which may lead to some companies having low sales growth and entering the decline stage. The increasing quality, differentiation, and attractiveness of products, the proper selection of the target market, recognizing and meeting the needs of target markets, and effective marketing plans [37,60] are suggested strategies according to the generic industry situation that can enhance the competitive advantage of the firms and turn the decline stage around.…”