MNC Brands in Emerging Markets: Successes and Lessons Learned
Emerging markets present great opportunities but also numerous challenges to multinational pharmaceutical corporations (MNCs). With large and growing populations, robust projected market growth, and improving healthcare access on the one hand, but suboptimal IP protection, limited financial resources, and tight government controls on the other, pharmaceutical MNC brand successes are notable. Roche’s Herceptin in China, the DPP-IV inhibitor and GLP-1 receptor agonist drug classes for type 2 diabetes in Brazil, and protease inhibitors for hepatitis C virus in Brazil cover a spectrum of successful MNC brands in emerging markets—high-cost oncology agents with extremely limited formulary coverage in China, more affordable type 2 diabetes agents with limited formulary coverage in Brazil, and high-cost hepatitis C virus therapies with national coverage but strict treatment guidelines in Brazil. In each case, we note indicators of the agent’s success and explore the factors contributing to its accomplishment.
