Profitability and Market Value of Orphan Drug Companies: A Retrospective, Propensity-Matched Case-Control Study.

<h4>Background</h4>Concerns about the high cost of orphan drugs has led to questions being asked about the generosity of the incentives for development, and associated company profits.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted a retrospective, propensity score matched study of publicly-lis...

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Main Authors: Dyfrig A Hughes, Jannine Poletti-Hughes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0164681&type=printable
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author Dyfrig A Hughes
Jannine Poletti-Hughes
author_facet Dyfrig A Hughes
Jannine Poletti-Hughes
author_sort Dyfrig A Hughes
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Concerns about the high cost of orphan drugs has led to questions being asked about the generosity of the incentives for development, and associated company profits.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted a retrospective, propensity score matched study of publicly-listed orphan companies. Cases were defined as holders of orphan drug market authorisation in Europe or the USA between 2000-12. Control companies were selected based on their propensity for being orphan drug market authorisation holders. We applied system General Method of Moments to test whether companies with orphan drug market authorization are valued higher, as measured by the Tobin's Q and market to book value ratios, and are more profitable based on return on assets, than non-orphan drug companies.<h4>Results</h4>86 companies with orphan drug approvals in European (4), USA (61) or both (21) markets were matched with 258 controls. Following adjustment, orphan drug market authorization holders have a 9.6% (95% confidence interval, 0.6% to 18.7%) higher return on assets than non-orphan drug companies; Tobin's Q was higher by 9.9% (1.0% to 19.7%); market to book value by 15.7% (3.1% to 30.0%) and operating profit by 516% (CI 19.8% to 1011%). For each additional orphan drug sold, return on assets increased by 11.1% (0.6% to 21.3%), Tobin's Q by 2.7% (0.2% to 5.2%), and market to book value ratio by 5.8% (0.7% to 10.9%).<h4>Conclusions</h4>Publicly listed pharmaceutical companies that are orphan drug market authorization holders are associated with higher market value and greater profits than companies not producing treatments for rare diseases.
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spelling doaj-art-76e328bcb6ce45899db90edcbf8a9bfb2025-08-20T03:24:29ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-011110e016468110.1371/journal.pone.0164681Profitability and Market Value of Orphan Drug Companies: A Retrospective, Propensity-Matched Case-Control Study.Dyfrig A HughesJannine Poletti-Hughes<h4>Background</h4>Concerns about the high cost of orphan drugs has led to questions being asked about the generosity of the incentives for development, and associated company profits.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted a retrospective, propensity score matched study of publicly-listed orphan companies. Cases were defined as holders of orphan drug market authorisation in Europe or the USA between 2000-12. Control companies were selected based on their propensity for being orphan drug market authorisation holders. We applied system General Method of Moments to test whether companies with orphan drug market authorization are valued higher, as measured by the Tobin's Q and market to book value ratios, and are more profitable based on return on assets, than non-orphan drug companies.<h4>Results</h4>86 companies with orphan drug approvals in European (4), USA (61) or both (21) markets were matched with 258 controls. Following adjustment, orphan drug market authorization holders have a 9.6% (95% confidence interval, 0.6% to 18.7%) higher return on assets than non-orphan drug companies; Tobin's Q was higher by 9.9% (1.0% to 19.7%); market to book value by 15.7% (3.1% to 30.0%) and operating profit by 516% (CI 19.8% to 1011%). For each additional orphan drug sold, return on assets increased by 11.1% (0.6% to 21.3%), Tobin's Q by 2.7% (0.2% to 5.2%), and market to book value ratio by 5.8% (0.7% to 10.9%).<h4>Conclusions</h4>Publicly listed pharmaceutical companies that are orphan drug market authorization holders are associated with higher market value and greater profits than companies not producing treatments for rare diseases.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0164681&type=printable
spellingShingle Dyfrig A Hughes
Jannine Poletti-Hughes
Profitability and Market Value of Orphan Drug Companies: A Retrospective, Propensity-Matched Case-Control Study.
PLoS ONE
title Profitability and Market Value of Orphan Drug Companies: A Retrospective, Propensity-Matched Case-Control Study.
title_full Profitability and Market Value of Orphan Drug Companies: A Retrospective, Propensity-Matched Case-Control Study.
title_fullStr Profitability and Market Value of Orphan Drug Companies: A Retrospective, Propensity-Matched Case-Control Study.
title_full_unstemmed Profitability and Market Value of Orphan Drug Companies: A Retrospective, Propensity-Matched Case-Control Study.
title_short Profitability and Market Value of Orphan Drug Companies: A Retrospective, Propensity-Matched Case-Control Study.
title_sort profitability and market value of orphan drug companies a retrospective propensity matched case control study
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0164681&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT dyfrigahughes profitabilityandmarketvalueoforphandrugcompaniesaretrospectivepropensitymatchedcasecontrolstudy
AT janninepolettihughes profitabilityandmarketvalueoforphandrugcompaniesaretrospectivepropensitymatchedcasecontrolstudy