Hoechst Streamlines R&D: Update On Early Pipeline

As the costs of R&D around the world have soared at "an alarming rate" the introduction of new active substances has been stagnating for years, according to Jurgen Reden, head of pharmaceutical research at the German chemical and pharmaceutical company, Hoechst.

R&D costs of the Hoechst group, however, will be slightly lower this year, between 3% and 4%, than the 1.6 billion Deutschemarks ($1 billion) spent on R&D in 1993, said Dr Reden at the group's recent pharmaceutical meeting in Frankfurt, Germany (see also Marketletter October 3). A further reduction of around 10% is planned for 1995.

The group has been restructuring its R&D operations over the past couple of years to introduce organizational changes that it hopes will bring a higher success rate and greater efficiency. The responsibilities for research, preclinical development and clinical development have been separated, and the creation of strategic business units, which are responsible for the individual therapeutic areas and comprise all the required disciplines, has led to a qualitative improvement in research projects, said Dr Reden.