AstraZeneca tops first Pharmaceutical Invention Index

4 November 2019

The first annual Pharmaceutical Invention Index, released by IDEA Pharma ton Sunday, sees AstraZeneca top the industry for the novelty and breadth of its pipeline.

Released for the first time in 2019, at the Pharma Innovation Summit in Boca Raton, Florida, the Pharmaceutical Invention Index takes a focused look at the breadth and depth of novel agents currently being developed within the most innovative Pharma pipelines. Alongside the Pharmaceutical Innovation Index, which ranks companies for their ability to add value to or derive value from their pipeline, the Invention Index provides a more forward-looking view, of who is developing medicines that matter, embracing science and innovations in R&D.

The Pharmaceutical Invention Index consists of four key metrics: the proportion of pipeline to marketed drugs, the number of trials investigating novel agents, the proportion of 'novel' regulatory designations, and an assessment of the companies' R&D investments. Data are used to objectively evaluate each company and produce an independent category score for each of the top 30 companies. These scores are used to calculate an overall company score and provide an ordinal ranking.

AstraZeneca landed at top spot in the rankings, scoring exceptionally well across all four metrics. AstraZeneca boasted a high proportion of pipeline to marketed drugs, a large number of trials investigating novel drugs, a good proportion of 'novel' regulatory designations, and a healthy R&D investment track record, as well as a commitment to incremental systematic improvements.

Top-10 innovators

Company	FINAL RANKING
AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN)	1
Celgene (Nasdaq; CELG)	2
Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY)	3
Novartis (NOVN: VX)	4
AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV)	5
Vertex (Nasdaq: VRTX)	5
Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY)	6
Regeneron (Nasdaq: REGN)	7
Daiichi Sankyo (TYO: 4568)	8
GSK (LSE: GSK)	9
Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB)	10

Commenting on the index, IDEA Pharma's chief executive, Mike Rea said: "There's a critical distinction between invention and innovation – success is achieved by discovering and developing meaningfully great medicines (invention) and getting those medicines to market, and to patients (innovation). It is wonderful to see a company of AstraZeneca's scale and history able to turn around its fortunes in a relatively short period of time."

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