The Successful Launch and Diffusion of New Therapies - Innovation and Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry - page 207

prescription drugs across both developing and developed countries. Their results,
which are consistent with earlier findings from outside the pharmaceutical industry,
indicate that developing nations tend to have lower diffusion speeds and lower max-
imum penetration levels compared with developed countries. They also find that per
capita expenditures on healthcare have a positive effect on diffusion speed, and that
this effect is stronger among developed countries. Stremersch and Lemmens ( 2009 )
have investigated the role of regulatory regimes in explaining international sales
growth of new drugs, while controlling for introduction timing, economic and cul-
tural factors, among others. In their paper they used a time-varying coefficient
model to analyze the sales of 15 new molecules in 34 countries. Stremersch and
Lemmens ( 2009 ) found that differences in regulation substantially contribute to
cross-country variation in sales, emphasizing the importance of incorporating local
regulatory constraints into pharmaceutical manufacturers' global launch plans. For
instance, drug volumes were found ceteris paribus to be higher in countries with
manufacturer price regulation, and lower in countries with DTCA or prescription
budget restrictions. In addition, this study confirms that the cultural and economic
characteristics of countries affect their attractiveness to pharmaceutical firms.
Table 7.2 displays the early sales volume (less than 3.5 years after launch) and
late sales volume (more than 3.5 years after launch) for a sample of the following
brands across 15 molecules (molecule name in parentheses; several molecules are
marketed under multiple brands): Lipitor (atorvastatin), Baycol/Lipobay (cerivas-
tatin), Lescol (fluvastatin), Crestor (rosuvastatin), Vesicare (solifenacin), Detrol
(tolterodine), Caverject/Muse/Viridal (alprostadil), Uprima/Ixense (apomorphine),
Viagra/Revatio/Caverta (sildenafil), Cialis (tadalafil), Levitra (vardenafil), Clarinex
(desloratadine), Elestat (epinastine), Allegra/Telfast (fexofenadine), Mizollen
(mizolastine). For each country Stremersch and Lemmens ( 2009 ) have calculated
the percent deviation from the mean sales level. In countries where this deviation is
high, the molecule reaches high sales levels compared to the mean sales level across
all countries. Correspondingly, in countries where this deviation is low, the mole-
cule reaches only low sales levels compared to the mean sales level across all coun-
tries. From Table 7.2 , we can conclude that new molecules in the USA, Sweden,
Norway, and Japan reach high sales levels. New molecules reach only low sales
levels in many developing countries, such as Mexico, Eastern European countries,
the Philippines, and South American and African countries. Some countries show
very fast adoption (very high early sales level as compared to the late sales level):
Sweden, Netherlands, and Belgium. Other countries show very slow adoption (very
low early sales level as compared to the late sales level): Australia, Norway, and
United Kingdom.

7.3.2 International Launch Timing and Pricing

Research on international launch of new drugs has identified several drivers of
launch timing (Danzon et al. 2005 ; Kyle 2006 , 2007 ; Lanjouw 2005 ; Verniers et al.