When blockbuster drugs lose IP protections it can wipe out billions of dollars in revenue for companies
The Financial Times article “The looming ‘patent cliff’ facing Big Pharma” examines how leading pharmaceutical companies are preparing for a wave of major patent expiries in 2027–28, with around $180bn in annual sales at risk as blockbuster drugs such as Merck’s Keytruda lose exclusivity, prompting investor concern and a renewed search for late-stage assets through M&A despite political and pricing uncertainty.
The piece explains how long development cycles, rapid generic and biosimilar substitution, and a shortage of large, near-market biotech assets create structural pressure on Big Pharma, driving increased interest in earlier-stage pipelines and in high-quality, lower-cost Chinese innovation. Forbion’s General Partner Nanna Lüneborg is quoted twice: first describing the rise of Chinese biotech as “absolutely phenomenal,” noting both the quality of assets and the due-diligence risks posed by strong Chinese competitors, and later reflecting on Keytruda’s “intelligent and ambitious” development, arguing that Merck, like others approaching major expiries, faces the challenge of being a “victim of their own success.”