Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) SWOT & PESTLE Analysis

Strength

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Weakness

1. Revenue dependence on few prioritized brands: If we analyze product wise sales of BMS we can see that top selling prioritized drugs (namely Opdivo, Eliquis, Orencia, Sprycel,Yervoy and Baraclude) constituted around 80% of revenue in year 2017. Revenue share of products shows that the company depends heavily on its key products and lacks differentiation in product portfolio.

2. Weak presence in biologics segment: Biologics have revolutionized the treatment of many serious and chronic illnesses and many companies are investing heavily considering the future potential including BMS, however if we look at the top 10 biologics brand, not a single product is from BMS.

Opportunity

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Threat

1. Increasing competition from generic drug manufacturers: One of the biggest competitive challenges that BMS face is from generic pharmaceutical manufacturers. Generic manufacturers typically utilize the expired patents of research pharmaceutical companies and thus they are able to keep their R&D investments significantly low and therefore can price their products significantly lower than branded products. Upon the expiration or loss of market exclusivity on a product, BMS can lose the major portion of revenues of that product in a very short period of time.

2. Changes in U.S. or foreign laws and regulations: In many countries determination of pricing and reimbursement for pharmaceutical product is subject to government control. In most EU countries, for example, the government regulates pricing of a new product at launch often through direct price controls, international price comparisons, controlling profits and/or reference pricing. In recent years, Italy, for example, has imposed mandatory price decreases.

3. Adverse changes in U.S., global, regional or local economic conditions: Global economic risks pose significant challenges to a BMS’s growth and profitability and are difficult to mitigate. In 2016, 45% of the total revenue of BMS came from countries other than USA. Given this non-dollar revenue composition, fluctuation in U.S. dollar poses a significant risk to their overall profit. Any major political event (like Brexit) in Europe can negatively impact the overall operations since BMS have a major part of their operations present there, including manufacturing and distribution.

Political

1. Changes in U.S. or foreign laws and regulations: BMS could become subject to new government laws and regulations, which could negatively affect their business, operating results and the financial condition. These laws can be healthcare reform initiatives imposing mandatory discounts or fees; changing tax rates; new laws affecting pricing; changes in intellectual property laws; new trade laws affecting imports etc.

2. Reduction in government spending on healthcare: Revenue of any pharma company is largely impacted by the changes in government spending on healthcare since many large medical contracts are executed by governments. But there has been instances of healthcare budget cuts for example The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) estimates that govt. mandated price cuts and discounts in the GIIPS (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) countries brought down the industry’s revenues by more than $8.8 billion in 2010 and 2011. With GIIPS governments continuing their budget cuts, overall pharma sales are expected to fall by $15.9 billion between year 2011 and 2020.

Economic

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Social

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Technological

1. Proliferation in digital health technologies: Digital health technology is creating a paradigm shift in life sciences. Health data captured by wearable devices, mobile health apps, and social media are being used to transform aspects of health care that earlier seemed beyond the purview of such technologies. These technologies are providing an important platform for Pharma companies to strengthen patient engagement programs and collaborate with other stakeholders. A notable example in respect of BMS is that it has announced collaboration with GRYT Health, a connected health start-up. The collaboration which is a digital pilot initiative will focus on advance cancer care through patient-driven insights.

2. Rise in advanced analytics: Advanced analytics represent another side of the technology coin. Whereas the much-hyped “personalized medicine era” has yet to fully take hold, the industry and research communities are clearly moving in that direction and advanced analytics may play a key role. Technology companies are developing in vitro companion diagnostic devices that pharma companies may use to target specific diseases based on patients’ personalized genomic profiles. These devices may also be helpful for data-gathering purposes, and thus may allow drug companies and regulatory bodies to share data. BMS has used Big Data for analysis of data from labs and generate new insights in clinical trials. One notable example is Translational Bioinformatics where BMS teams are using cutting-edge algorithms to sift through massive raw genomics data. Data and analytics has led significant saving of time and resources for BMS and improved the overall efficiency.

Legal

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Environmental

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