NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Feb 1, 2012) - Major Pharmaceutical companies have seen their profits drop in recent quarters as patent protection on their largest products continues to shrink revenues. By 2014, $90 billion of branded drugs will go generic, CNBC reports, leaving Big Pharma to find new ways to preserve margins. Five Star Equities examines the outlook for companies in the Drug Manufacturers - Major Industry and provides equity research on Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: [ PFE ]) and GlaxoSmithKline Plc (NYSE: [ GSK ]) (LSE: GSK). Access to the full company reports can be found at:

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A new report from Research and Markets, says the generics market remains a major growth area in the global healthcare market, "with market growth significantly higher than that of patented drugs and the overall pharmaceutical market." Overall, Research and Markets says that the global generics market was valued at US$123 billion in 2010, and has been estimated to reach US$ 180 billion by 2014, at a CAGR of 10.6% during 2011-14.

A recent report from Moody's argues that Major Pharmaceutical firms could generate enough revenue from new drugs this year to ease concerns over the patent cliff that many of them are facing. "Revenue opportunities in the drug markets for hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis and atrial fibrillation come as the industry braces for a steep cliff of patent expirations and ongoing pricing pressure," writes analyst Michael Levesque.

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Yesterday, Pfizer announced that its fourth quarter profit fell by 50 percent because of one-time charges and a big drop in U.S. revenue lost to new generic competition for blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor. The company's net income was $1.44 billion, or 19 cents per share, down from $2.89 billion, or 36 cents per share, a year earlier.

Pfizer CEO Ian Read said that prospects are improving with a "wave" of new drug compounds in early and mid-stage testing and approvals in the last month for kidney cancer pill Inlyta and for use of children's pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar 13 in adults ages 50 and up.

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