Publication

Strategies to improve R&D productivity

Executive summary from the Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit, held by Cambridge Healthtech Institute in collaboration with PA Consulting Group

The First Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit took place in Orlando, Florida in February 2005. About 100 participants from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academia, the press, solution vendors and consultancies attended the conference. A mixture of plenary sessions, breakouts and round-table discussions, as well as more informal settings, offered participants many opportunities to explore the gamut of R&D productivity issues.

The primary issues raised included the unsatisfactory level of R&D productivity and a concern that the negative perception of the industry will bring about unfavorable regulatory and market consequences.

There was broad agreement regarding the macro trends which show declining R&D productivity – measured as the number of NMEs approved/launched relative to the financial investment in life science R&D. Some participants expressed concerns that R&D productivity might have fallen to a level that will no longer be able to sustain the current pharma business model. There was broad agreement that both the sources of the problem and potential solution were in two principal areas: management of R&D operations and advances in the scientific knowledge.

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