Collaboration, not competition, could spur innovation, but barriers remain

Arising from the murmurings and chatter emanating from the 2012 BIO International Convention was a common theme - the need for added collaboration amongst all players in the pharmaceutical industry to spur innovation. While common buzz words such as “collaboration” are handed out like candy at these conventions, this time the industry seems more serious about how to build strategic partnerships to address the grave headwinds it faces, concludes review from intelligence provider GlobalData.

At present there the landscape consists of unimpressive pipelines, “patent-cliffs,” shrinking R&D budgets, government austerity, regulatory uncertainty, “valleys of death” and declining venture capital investment – or as one industry executive described it: a “resource-constrained environment.” GlobalData believes there is a growing consensus in the industry that these challenges must be met collectively by bringing together public, private and governmental organizations to create multi-lateral collaborations to drive the next wave of scientific discovery. However, a lack of incentives, the high-cost of research and access to funding create structural barriers to forming effective private-public collaborations.

One arena where the effectiveness of such collaborations can be put to the test is in drug R&D. The current R&D paradigm is filled with inefficiencies, duplicative efforts and wasted resources resulting in an unsustainable system that is expensive and cumbersome. However, this no longer has to be the case. There is a rising need in the industry to shift from this old, inflexible and partitioned R&D paradigm to a more collective and open ecosystem that fosters creativity.