Early pharma development budgets rise 15%

New research shows that drugmakers invested 15% more during early development stages than they did in 2002, according to a recent report by pharmaceutical business intelligence firm Cutting Edge Information. Brand teams currently allocate an average $906,000 between preclinical development and Phase II, while in 2002, they allocated a mean of $790,000.

While early-stage spending is still relatively low compared to average spending during later development stages, the trend toward increased early investments is noteworthy, says the report. Average total spending on market research remained the same last versus 2002, at $5.45 million, indicating that companies have shifted at least some resources from late-stage development to critical early phases, it notes.