Big pharma-biotech partnering "holds promise for better R&D productivity, says Tufts

Challenged to maintain revenue growth over the next five years, large pharmaceutical companies increasingly will partner with biotechnology firms to improve clinical development and R&D productivity, according to a panel of industry leaders convened by the Boston, USA-headquartered Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.

While aiming for annual real revenue growth in the 5%-8% range through 2012, large pharmaceutical firms individually face potential sales gaps of tens of billions of dollars. Meeting those goals, the panel concluded, would require companies to develop and introduce between 12 and 50 new drug products between now and 2012, or about two to nine each year.

During the last five years, the top 10 pharmaceutical companies have typically brought about 0.6 new drugs to the market annually, according to Tufts CSDD.