Curing patients is bad business.
āIs curing patients a sustainable business model?ā Goldman Sachs analysts ask
ā[Gilead]ās rapid rise and fall of its hepatitis C franchise highlights one of the dynamics of an effective drug that permanently cures a disease, resulting in a gradual exhaustion of the prevalent pool of patients,ā the analysts wrote. The report noted that diseases such as common cancersāwhere the āincident pool remains stableāāare less risky for business.
To get around the sustainability issue overall, the report suggests that biotech companies focus on diseases or conditions that seem to be becoming more common and/or are already high-incidence. It also suggests that companies be innovative and constantly expanding their portfolio of treatments. This can āoffset the declining revenue trajectory of prior assets.ā Lastly, it hints that, as such cures come to fruition, they could open up more investment opportunities in treatments for ādisease of aging.ā
If weāre going to have cures we need the cures to cause other diseases so we can keep our profits up.