Pharmaceutical companies face difficult times when a patent of a brand name drug expires. Brand name drugs often see a large decline in their sales value. This research studies, using five case studies, what pharmaceutical companies do to overcome such a sales decline. The used strategies are evaluated, using sales values, to see whether these strategies work. Pharmaceutical companies have five possible brand extension strategies they can use, namely: Extended release (XR), new indication, second generation, fixed-dose-combination (FDC) and over-the-counter (OTC). Based on the results of this research, the second generation strategy is the most effective strategy pharmaceutical companies can use to overcome patent expiry of their blockbuster brand name drugs.