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April 10, 2013 by Donald Riker, PhD
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“Every piece of business strategy acquires its true significance only against the background of that process and within the situation created by it. It must be seen in its role in the perennial gale of creative destruction...the first thing to go is the traditional conception of the modus operandi of competition.”
- Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, 1942
Schumpeter’s dictum on innovation is as immutable as it was in 1942, this time applied to the laundry detergent business by the Wall Street Journal. Yet, innovation by one player (Procter & Gamble) can provoke gales of complaint from competitors bleeding dollar sales (Church & Dwight), or those who profit from keeping the consumer in yesterday’s technology [see Detroit 1960’s].
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January 04, 2013 by Donald Riker, PhD
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2012 was marked by challenge, consolidation and retrenchment as much driven by self-inflicted neglect as it was by outside forces such as investors and stakeholders. It was a year of discovering dirty laundry and watching it turn into a distressed asset --- both companies and brands; a year for major self-assessment and the search for opportunity left on the playing field. 2012 was a year of challenging assumptions and discovering that details matter.
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December 19, 2012 by Donald Riker, PhD
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The US House of Representatives voted 229-182 on December 12, 2012 to not allow Amphastar Pharmaceuticals to release its inventory of CFC-propelled Primatene Mist inhalers into the US OTC market (see Wall Street Journal story).
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August 05, 2012 by Donald Riker, PhD
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Primatene Mist, the former OTC epinephrine inhaler for asthma, long given up for dead, is on the verge of resurrection. The plot line, that seems Biblical, combines elements of libertarianism, mercantilism, liberal paternalism, political correctness, politics, and environmentalism all centered on the asthmatic consumer and her self-care. Surely a better idea exists then going backwards in the treatment of asthma by selling an abandoned drug to some consumers and encouraging two standards of care.
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July 15, 2012 by Donald Riker, PhD
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 P&G’s got problems; that’s clear from the latest reports. OTC Product News provided opinion in a recent editorial “The Tide Washes Out at P&G”--- now activist investor Bill Ackman at Pershing Square has jumped with a $2 billion investment smelling blood in the water. His target CEO McDonald has had a tough time at unruly earnings calls posting less than encouraging numbers. Competitors in the space like Clorox, Colgate, among others seem not to suffer the same disorder. We propose that this failure is endemic to the P&G culture…
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June 04, 2012 by Donald Riker, PhD
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 Once again J&J fails its female consumer, but this time not just Tylenol moms; KY women's products are subject of an FDA warning letter. To find out why keep reading...
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April 30, 2012 by Donald Riker, PhD
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 P&G announces very weak 3rd quarter results to Wall Street; stock drops 5% in two days, 15% off all time peak, and flat with its pre-pullback 2007 and post-pullback 2010 levels. Essentially P&G has been dead money for over five years.
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February 13, 2012 by Donald Riker, PhD
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When was the last time you read about innovation in the OTC healthcare industry? The proxy that comes up most often is the switch of prescription drugs to sale over-the-counter, but arguably that is at best not a common event albeit perhaps the most notable. Are companies investing in innovation or just talking a good game? What does innovation look like anyway?
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January 11, 2012 by Donald Riker, PhD
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The top stores for 2011 were easy to identify: 1) Quality control failures, particularly at J&J; 2) the P&G/Teva deal; 3) M&A; and 4) the entry of the last significant Rx switch Allegra (fexofenadine).
Quality control failures in plants that manufacture OTC drugs continued apace. These failures differed from many in the past in their sheer scope and egregiousness. They were also systemic, resulting in warning letters or a consent decree, plant shut downs, and multiproduct outages some lastly beyond one year. The root cause of these failures was a toxic mix of old plant & equipment, neglect, cost cutting and incompetence. J&J, the chief repeat offender and
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November 20, 2011 by Donald Riker, PhD
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P&G and Teva Pharma formed a strategic healthcare joint venture on Nov 3, 2011. In one masterstroke P&G has created synergies in multiple dimensions and has forged a new business model that should be the envy of the consumer healthcare industry. We recount P&G's long journey to this game-changing moment.
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August 25, 2011 by Donald Riker, PhD
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"Do you believe in magic in a young girl's heart?"
- John Sebastian, The Lovin' Spoonfuls, 1965
Pfizer announced its intention to attempt a switch of Lipitor from prescription to non-prescription status coincident with its pending patent expiry despite several failed attempts at FDA to switch a statin. The professional community voices diverse opinion on the wisdom of doing so. We attempt to sort out the argument...
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Opinion
