Measuring and Understanding Market Exclusivity Length for New Prescription Drugs in France, Australia, and the USA

Originator drug manufacturers use several strategies to delay generic competition in the USA, but it remains unclear whether this results in longer market exclusivity compared to other countries.

We sought to understand how drug market exclusivity lengths vary between the USA and two comparable countries.

We focused on drugs approved within 2 years of each other in the USA, France, and Australia from 1995 to 2005, and we compared the lengths of exclusivity from marketing approval through first generic competition or June 2023 using Kaplan–Meier analyses.

Among 165 drugs in common between the USA and France, the median length of exclusivity was slightly longer in France (15.0 years, interquartile range [IQR]: 13.0–19.6) than the USA (14.5 years, IQR: 11.7–17.6). Among 100 drugs in common between the USA and Australia, the median length of exclusivity was longer in Australia (16.3 years, IQR: 13.9–22.4) than in the USA (14.4 years, IQR: 12.0–17.1).

Market exclusivity lengths in the USA are not longer than in France and Australia. Potential reasons include the larger US market and incentives that offer transient high generic drug prices in the USA for manufacturers that successfully challenge originator market exclusivity.