Zeneca Reveals Typically Strong Pipeline

On December 12, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals gave the first in-depth review of its research and development activities since the demerger with ICI in 1993, and showed that in addition to the high-quality range of products coming through to market at the moment, it has a broad and deep pipeline which should sustain the firm well into the next century.

Peter Doyle, R&D director at Zeneca, noted the firm's intention to expand its investment in R&D and research partnerships, and added that the R&D spend, put at L550 million ($845 million; approximately 15% of sales) in 1995, will rise faster than inflation. As a proportion of this, the spend on pharmaceutical R&D will increase from its current level of 62.5% of the total (the remainder going on agrochemicals and specialties) to about two thirds over the next two years, and more of this budget will be earmarked for external collaborations. Zeneca's investments in this latter area are modest at the moment and need to be doubled, said Dr Doyle.

As a consequence of this increased spend, Zeneca intends to nominate at least six candidates from its research programs for full development every year, to maintain its strategic target of bringing at least one New Chemical Entity to market every year throughout the 1990s.