Science thomsonreuters.com

When stock plunges, drug discovery budgets shrink. Market expectations for sustained high annual growth from pharma remain high however. Smaller biotechs are also hit badly by the credit crunch as most are funded by raising revenue from capital markets rather than from selling products.

‘The goal is stay alive over the next one or two years.’

The pressure falls on R&D divisions to churn out multiple compounds each year that will generate enough revenue to offset products with expiring patents. “It’s all about making the right go, no go decisions as early as possible in the process,” says Phil Gould, Managing Director of Jadara Pharma, “before you’ve spent $1 billion on the ‘wonder drug’ that only makes it halfway.” As a former head of product introduction at Glaxo Smith Kline, Gould knows that success hinges on the ability to focus full capacity on the most promising projects and cut out the rest.

Merck & Co’s chief strategy officer recently admitted that ‘$75c of every dollar’ spent on R&D goes to fund failure. This is not uncommon and further pressurizes researchers to make discoveries quickly or to fail faster.

Mark Simpson, Head of Product Development for Thomson Reuters agrees that current economic conditions are creating an even greater need to relieve this pressure. “The challenge of when to make the right decision can only be met by using the best information available. We’re relied upon to support the ongoing process of monitoring customer pipelines, model likely outcomes – all activity that supports intelligent decision making.”