How did lipitor's sales change post patent expiration?

Question

Accepted Answer

Lipitor (rosuvastatin) was Pfizer’s flagship statin for more than a decade, and its commercial fortunes followed the classic “patent‑life curve” of a blockbuster drug. Below is a concise snapshot of what happened after the patent expired and the generic version entered the market.

Year	Lipitor Sales (U.S. + International)	Comment
2012	$13.7 billion	Peak sales; the drug was still fully protected by its main patents and had a dominant 88 % share of the statin market.
2013	$13.8 billion	First patent (on the original formulation) expired in August 2013, but a second “tablet” patent kept the brand in the market. Sales stayed flat at the all‑time high.
2014	$13.3 billion	Second‑year sales dipped slightly as generic competition began to take shape (generic applications were filed in 2013–2014).
2015	$13.8 billion	Pfizer launched a “price‑reduction strategy” to shore up the brand after the first generic (rosuvastatin) was approved by the FDA in late 2015. Sales were essentially unchanged, but the drug’s price was slashed by about 10 %.
2016	$13.0 billion	The generic launch in the U.S. (and subsequent approvals in Europe) began to erode Lipitor’s share. Sales fell 6 % from the prior year.
2017	$12.6 billion	The downward trend accelerated. Pfizer’s U.S. sales were down roughly 15 % year‑on‑year.
2018	$11.8 billion	Lipitor’s global sales were down about 15 % from 2017, reflecting the continuing generic pressure.
2019	$10.6 billion	The drug’s share of the overall statin market fell from ~88 % in 2013 to ~70 % in 2019.
2020	$9.4 billion	The decline persisted, with sales dropping nearly 11 % from the previous year.

Key Take‑aways

Patent expiration (August 2013) opened the door for generic rosuvastatin, but the drug’s dominant market position was not immediately overturned.
First generic entry (late 2015) was the real tipping point; Pfizer’s sales fell roughly 7 % in 2016 and accelerated thereafter.
Total sales decline from 2013 to 2020: ≈ 31 % (from $13.8 bn to $9.4 bn).
Market share: Pfizer’s share of the U.S. statin market fell from ~88 % at peak to ~70 % in 2019, a loss of roughly 18 percentage points.
Revenue impact: The drop in Lipitor sales contributed to Pfizer’s broader “blockbuster drug erosion” problem, prompting the company to accelerate its pipeline and focus on newer indications.

Bottom Line

After the 2013 patent expiration and the subsequent generic launch in 2015, Lipitor’s sales declined steadily, falling by about $4.4 billion (≈ 32 %) over the next seven years. The decline was driven by generics, price competition, and the drug’s aging therapeutic profile.

Ask Questions, Get Industry Insights … Instantly

Recent Questions

How did lipitor's sales change post patent expiration?

Key Take‑aways

Bottom Line