70% of pharma alliances fail to meet initial expectations

When forming alliances, drugmakers increasingly find themselves struggling to maintain functional business relationships that benefit both companies and their products, according to a new report from pharmaceutical intelligence firm, Cutting Edge Information.

The report, entitled Business Development Spending and Structure (www.PharmaDealMaking.com), highlights techniques to generate communication and cooperation amongst alliances and partnerships, resulting in the successful launch of their products. Cutting Edge's new report estimates that nearly 70% of alliances fail to meet initial expectations for reasons such as neglecting to monitor alliance health through the term of agreement. Others fail to create scenario plans during pre-contract stages that ensure that, if conflicts arise, previously-made decisions can go into action.

"Alliance partners frequently neglect alliance relationships and then wonder why their products end up failing," said Eric Bolesh, senior research analyst at Cutting Edge. "Regardless of a product's potential, companies that do not appropriately prioritize alliances may ultimately achieve lukewarm results on a partnership product," he added.