Drug companies still under pressure to increase pace of development

Although drug developers are improving R&D efficiency, in part by terminating more unpromising drugs earlier in development, their continued success will depend on how well they partner with other firms at specific points on the development spectrum, according to the USA's Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.

"Developers have made important progress in reducing R&D times, but because only three in 10 new drugs, on average, generate sufficient revenue to sustain R&D, pharmaceutical and biotech firms are under great and growing pressure to generate revenue to bring more products to market," commented Tufts CSDD director Kenneth Kaitin in connection with the release this week of the Tufts Center's Outlook 2010 report on pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical trends. "The simple fact is that product launches are not keeping pace with patent expirations," he added.

According to Tufts CSDD, worldwide sales for all drugs coming off patent from 2009 through 2012 will exceed $88 billion. Currently, it costs, on average, more than $1 billion and takes more than seven years from the start of clinical trials to conduct the necessary studies and win approval to market a new drug in the USA.
Mr Kaitin noted that, while new technologies and improved protocol designs are helping to improve R&D efficiency, "future success for many sponsors will depend on their ability to collaborate with other drug companies, and how well they engage and partner with outside service providers."