As patent cliffs continue to crack and crumble into the sea and send shock waves through big pharma around the world, global healthcare PR strategists continue to train their skilled teams’ eyes and ears on the future trends of big pharma, urgently trying to discern the shape of the new emerging landmass to keep ahead of the game.

Over the next three years, six Big Pharma companies have more than half of their portfolio at risk due to patent expirations.  I’d imagine that this creates anxiety among communications agencies around the world asking what this all means for them and future revenue streams. Should we start prophesying that the end is nigh for “big pharma”? Long-term, can viable business models continue to be sustained around portfolios of products that have such short patent shelf lives?