Pharma must speed up transformation to meet changing dynamics: E&Y

Leaders of the largest global pharmaceutical companies recognize the need for transformational change in their organizations, but will need to move swiftly to ensure sustained growth for the sector. Current global financial conditions and the threat of a broad recession have accelerated the timetable for implementing change, as the industry confronts lower corporate stock prices and an increasingly cost-averse customer. These and other findings were revealed in Progressions, Executing for success: powering new business models, Ernst & Young's bi-annual global pharmaceutical report.

The Progressions study reports findings from a global survey of senior executives from 15 major pharmaceutical companies. It identifies the top concerns of these leaders and the progress they have made in transforming their businesses.

The industry faces unprecedented challenges related to patent expirations, pricing and regulatory pressures, thin late-stage pipelines, shifting demographics, efficacy issues and globalization. While the majority of companies have announced major strategic shifts and choices that have the potential of transforming the business and the business model, most have yet to adopt the organizational and functionality changes needed to power these new models, the report says.