Contact Information: Contact: Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development Charlene Neu 617-636-2187 Business Communication Strategies Peter Lowy 617-734-9980
Large Pharmaceutical Firms Are Getting More Drugs Into Development While Terminating Unpromising Candidates, According to Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development
BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - July 22, 2009) - Large pharmaceutical firms, under pressure to
bring new medicines to market faster, have been getting more drug
candidates into development in recent years and have become more aggressive
in terminating unpromising candidates, according to a study recently
completed by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.
One in six self-originated compounds that entered clinical testing at large
pharmaceutical companies from 1993 to 2004 was expected to eventually
attain marketing approval, the study found.
"Increasing the pace of new drugs entering development and terminating
candidates that are unlikely to succeed is the right combination of trends
that will help the industry counter the expected decline in revenues due to
scheduled patent expirations," said Tufts CSDD Director of Economic
Analysis and study author Joseph A. DiMasi.
According to the study, the share of new self-originated drugs that were
terminated during Phase I and Phase II clinical testing increased from
1993-98 to 1999-04.
The study also found that the in-licensing of products into the clinical
pipelines of the top 50 firms, a practice that gained much industry
attention in recent years, reached a high point at the end of the 1990s.
After peaking at 28% for drugs that first entered clinical testing in the
1999-01 period, licensed products as a share of the total development
portfolios of big pharma dropped to just under 16% for 2005-07.
"The decline in the share of drugs that were licensed-in at large
pharmaceutical firms likely reflects both a reinvigoration of discovery
efforts and a recent shift in licensing strategies that focuses more on the
smaller number of available late-stage compounds to help offset weak
short-term growth prospects," DiMasi said.
The study, reported in the July/August Tufts CSDD Impact Report, released
today, also found that:
* For the top 50 global firms, the annual rate at which drugs enter
clinical testing increased 31% from 1999-01 to 2002-07.
* Nearly three-quarters of the drugs in the portfolios of the top
pharmaceutical firms that reached clinical testing from 1993-07 originated
in and were developed by the firms.
* While clinical success rates for drugs varied widely by therapeutic
class, of six specific broad therapeutic categories analyzed,
oncologic/immunologic and central nervous system (CNS) had the greatest
number of drug candidates entering clinical testing over the 1993-07
period.
About the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development
The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (http://csdd.tufts.edu)
at Tufts University provides strategic information to help drug developers,
regulators, and policy makers improve the quality and efficiency of
pharmaceutical development, review, and utilization. Tufts CSDD, based in
Boston, conducts a wide range of in-depth analyses on pharmaceutical issues
and hosts symposia, workshops, and public forums, and publishes the Tufts
CSDD Impact Report, a bi-monthly newsletter providing analysis and insight
into critical drug development issues.