R&D Productivity – The State of Research and Development in the BioPharmaceutical Industry

As blockbusters go off patent and the pool of marketed products supporting pharmaceutical Research & Development (R&D) decline, questions about the future of R&D in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry arise.  Where will funding come from?   Is spend decreasing? If spend is decreasing, what impact is this having on R&D?  What can be done to encourage innovation in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry?  Is the biotech model of R&D better for innovation than the traditional pharmaceutical model?

Gauging the overall growth of R&D in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry proves challenging in regards to stipulating the appropriate definition of variables by which this is measured.  Public companies may release overall expenses, yet allocations to specific products or franchises may be more difficult to assess.  On a related note, information may be available about specific research projects and molecules under development, yet tying those back to the overall R&D expenses can also be challenging.  To that end, we are focused on general estimations in this report which address a high level analysis of the overall industry and a basic formulaic approach to understanding growth and productivity within R&D.  The methods used for assessing these variables are supported by literature in the field.

Research & Development (R&D) in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industry has experienced a major shift from the blockbuster era of the last decade.  Pharmaceutical manufacturers are operating with thinner margins and smaller pipelines, the success rates of early stage research projects have decreased, and overall the complexity of efficient and productive R&D in the pharmaceutical industry has increased.  This report provides an overview of the current situation in pharmaceutical and biotech R&D.

Key Reasons to Purchase

• Executive Summary 

• Current Picture of Research and Development 

– Key issues affecting the industry’s R&D efforts 

– A review of the industry pipeline 

• Near term and future outlook 

– Pipeline by phase of development 

• Is the industry pipeline addressing global needs? 

– Pipeline by therapeutic area and, more 

specifically, indication 

• The convergence of Biotechnology and 

Pharmaceuticals to Biopharmaceuticals 

– Pipeline’s molecule mix 

– Do traditional pharmaceutical companies 

still exist? 

» Status of Top companies 

– Approvals by year and by sponsor (Established vs. 

Emerging companies) 

– Trends in R&D spend 

• Is R&D spend decreasing? 

– Review of Top companies R&D spend 

• R&D spend by phase of development 

– Probability of success rates on several levels: overall 

clinical approval, phase transition, and therapeutic area. 

• How have overall clinical approval rates changed 

over time? 

• R&D Productivity 

– Components of R&D productivity: efficiency and 

effectiveness 

– Variables that influence productivity 

– Industry efforts to improve productivity 

• Collaboration 

– Companies are going beyond their own 

four walls to cut costs, mitigate risk, and 

inspire innovation. 

• Outsourcing 

– CROs take on a greater role 

• Consideration of Key Stakeholders 

– What roles do Physicians, Payers, 

Patients, and Shareholders play in R&D? 

• Innovation 

– Featuring Biotech Incubators 

• Company Pipeline Snapshots (15 companies included) 

– Pipeline views on a company by company basis. 

• Views may include core therapeutic areas, 

compound origination, molecule type, and new 

molecular entities. 

– Trends in R&D spend 

• References 

 

Total Report Size – 71 slides; fully sourced