An exercise in drug development newspeak

Abstract

T he increasing cost of drug development drives numerous companies to speed the flow through their R&D pipelines. But at a recent Drug Information Association workshop entitled ‘The Role of Pharmacoeconomics in Pharmaceutical R&D Decision Making’ [ London, UK; October, 1998 ], a leading statistician challenged delegates to re-evaluate some long-held views. It almost seemed to be an exercise in drug development newspeak: evaluate the evaluations; value uncertainty; and faster may not be better.