Charles Joynson, WaveData MD, analyses Naproxen E/C Tabs long-term pricing.
This consequently triggered pricing and portfolio managers to re-evaluate these products in the light of continuing unprofitability. That then shook some manufacturers out of the market resulting in price spikes for both products. This seemed to have triggered a cycle of boom and bust with a repeating pattern happening roughly every five years.
This may fall in to a pattern of cancelled contract manufacturer orders. However, life cycles are generally shorter than this at about two years, which suggests contract manufacturers may get 50% of the orders they would like, so go ahead in year 1, followed by cancelled orders in year 5. Our analysis suggests that the 250mg pack should not be priced to pharmacies at below £2.00, and the 500mg pack should not be priced below £4.30.
This highlights again the long-term supply consequences of pushing prices too low on vulnerable products.