Are new drug combinations a solution to both the patent cliff and lack of new CNS products?

Until recently, the modern pharmaceutical industry has never stopped growing since the mid-1800s. Drugs such as morphine, quinine, amphetamine, antidepressants, barbiturates, insulin, anti-inflammatory drugs and many others have generated extensive revenues for the so-called Big Pharma [1]. Unfortunately, several significant changes have occurred a few years ago. The 2008 worldwide crisis has both decreased market capitalization and levels of private equity financing access for several biopharmaceutical companies. The industry also announced huge layoffs in the U.S. with 156,000 jobs lost between 2009 and 2013 [2]. Global sales of prescription drugs began to drastically in 2011 [3]. The end of the blockbuster-drug era became all of a sudden a reality reinforced primarily by the so-called patent cliff problem – generally defined as the phenomenon of patent expiration dates and an abrupt drop in sales that follows [3,4].