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. 2023 Oct;28(10):103726.
doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2023.103726. Epub 2023 Jul 26.

Analysis of pharma R&D productivity - a new perspective needed

Alexander Schuhmacher  1 , Markus Hinder  2 , Alexander von Stegmann Und Stein  3 , Dominik Hartl  4 , Oliver Gassmann  3
Affiliations

Analysis of pharma R&D productivity - a new perspective needed

Alexander Schuhmacher et al. Drug Discov Today. 2023 Oct.

Abstract

R&D productivity continues to be the industry's grand challenge. We analyzed the R&D input, output, and outcome of 16 leading research-based pharmaceutical companies over 20 years (2001-2020). Our analysis shows that pharma companies increased their R&D spending at a compound annual growth rate of 6% (2001-2020) to an average R&D expenditure per company of $6.7 billion (2020). The companies in our investigation launched 251 new drugs representing 46% of all CDER-related FDA approvals in the past 20 years. The average R&D efficiency of big pharma was $6.16 billion total R&D expenditures per new drug. Almost half of the leading companies needed to compensate for their negative R&D productivity through mergers and acquisitions.

Keywords: R&D; R&D effectiveness; R&D efficiency; R&D productivity; big pharma; drug discovery.

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