Drugmakers taking steps to improve R&D productivity, says Tufts CSDD

Even though pharmaceutical companies are pursuing innovative approaches to increase the pace and reduce the cost of drug development, the greatest advances will come from better coordination with development partners and improved clinical trial design, according to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.

"The next few years will show how well the research-based pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry, not just large pharma, has been able to adapt and innovate," said Tufts CSDD director Kenneth Kaitin, noting that "the good news is that many companies are embracing new approaches to drug development that have the potential to improve R&D productivity, including novel partnership agreements with academic medical centers and other drug companies."

He made his comments in connection with the release last week of the Tufts CSDD Outlook 2012 report on pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical trends, which shows that the need to improve R&D productivity - creating more drugs more quickly and at lower cost - is being driven, in part, by the scheduled expiration of patents for dozens of high revenue-earning drugs over the next five years.