As pressure mounts on pharma R&D, demand rises for IP professionals by Nick Bellwood

Life Science companies are feeling the pinch; productivity in R&D is dropping, there is increased pressure from regulators as well as pressure on price from payers, not to mention the generics threat. Companies are tightening their belts in terms of cost and ensuring that their current revenue streams are made secure. As the assets of companies in this sector are bound up in intellectual property, it is no surprise that the demand for professionals with IP experience, and in particular patent attorney qualification, is high.

The future of this sector may not sound particularly upbeat but pharmaceutical companies as well as their cousins in diagnostics, vaccines and medical devices are addressing these challenges on several fronts.

In pharmaceutical R&D, innovation is at the heart of discovering new drugs; drugs that are better than the competition or get to market faster than the competition. It is in this R&D space that patent attorneys really earn their salt.