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Is it Time to Revisit the Current R&D Model?

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Abstract

The private biomedical research industry has brought significant benefits to patients and has been a major factor in the transformation of the course and treatment of disease over the past half century. It is estimated that over 90% of the medicines in use today have been discovered or developed by the industry. Successful medicines bring revenues to the companies who research and develop them through long-term at-risk investment; the ensuing returns through medicine sales are a key element in sustaining a virtuous circle in the traditional drug research and development (R&D) model. However, late-stage attrition, along with increasing development costs, are now challenging companies and the current R&D model. As a consequence, biopharmaceutical companies are under ever increasing pressure to develop new R&D models.

This article describes the current status of large pharma R&D and how it goes about developing new drugs. It analyses some of the current key industry strategic trends and themes that may govern whether the current business model succeeds and continues to be the engine house of delivery for new medicines for society, or whether key changes are required to maximise R&D efficiency and to deliver regulatory approvable and medically required new drugs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are all employees of Pfizer Inc. and own stock options in the company. The views in this article are the personal views of the authors and should not be construed as those of Pfizer.

No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pfizer Global Research & Development, Sandwich Laboratories ipc 137, Ramsgate Road, Sandwich, CT13 9NJ, UK

    Damian O’Connell, Andrew Hopkins & David Roblin

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  1. Damian O’Connell
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  2. Andrew Hopkins
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  3. David Roblin
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Correspondence to Damian O’Connell.

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O’Connell, D., Hopkins, A. & Roblin, D. Is it Time to Revisit the Current R&D Model?. Int J Pharm Med 21, 339–345 (2007). https://doi.org/10.2165/00124363-200721050-00004

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