Drug r&d productivity declining, report finds
Expenditure in r&d fell by 0.3% in 2009
The pharmaceutical industry still relies heavily on sales from an aging portfolio of drugs and the proportion of sales from newer medicines fell last year, according to the 2010 Pharmaceutical R&D Factbook compiled by CMR International, a Thomson Reuters business.
Drugs launched within the last five years accounted for less than 7% of industry sales in 2009, compared with 8% in 2008, the Factbook revealed.
Many Big Pharma companies, including Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, have been cutting r&d jobs in a bid to improve returns and as a result r&d expenditure dropped by 0.3% in 2009, down from a 6.6% growth in 2008.
The therapeutic area receiving the largest proportion of investment – 17.9% – was anti-cancer drugs, the Factbook found.
A total of 26 new molecular entities (NME) were launched onto the global market in 2009, an increase on a 20-year low of 21 in 2008.
Competition from the generics sector is increasing, particularly due to contributions from companies based in India and China.
CMR said a general decline in success rates for new drugs also has taken its toll on productivity and phase III terminations had doubled in the period 2007–2009 compared with 2004–2006.
‘The latest data shows that poor productivity in 2009 continued to be exasperated by the low success rate for drugs in late-stage development and a decline in sales from new drugs launched within the last 5 years,’ said Hans Poulsen, head of consulting at CMR International.
‘The increase in NME launches compared with 2008 offers some positive news however, with data indicating a continued drop in overall success rates, it remains to be seen if the industry can reverse a 10-year trend in declining r&d output.’