Pharma companies must implement initiatives to improve core drug discovery capabilities

Pharmaceutical groups are now under more pressure than ever to develop innovative, successful drugs that drive strong revenues. Although expenditure on R&D is increasing this figure has not been accompanied by corresponding growth in the number of new drugs reaching the market. Companies must fundamentally review R&D business models and exploit new strategies for re-establishing core drug discovery expertise

In the report 'Addressing Pharma's R&D Productivity Crisis', Datamonitor provides an analysis of the R&D challenges faced by leading pharmaceutical companies and a critical review of company initiatives to restore productivity. The research goes on to examine technological opportunities including genomics-oriented target validation, rationalized HTS and GRID computing.

Integration is the key

Specialized drug discovery technology and capability is a vital ingredient for successful R&D but significant investments in technology have often failed to give rise to subsequent and much hoped for increases in productivity. In particular, investments made in high-throughput screening have yet to deliver on initial expectations.

Recognizing that no single technology offers a panacea for drug discovery, the industry must now improve the way in which it evaluates new technologies and capabilities. Building core drug discovery expertise requires companies to integrate capabilities in a range of fields, and interdisciplinary R&D must be company strategists' goal.

In this context, Datamonitor believes that the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR) sets high standards for the industry to match. Novartis has successfully integrated diverse and traditionally separate disciplines, technologies and components of the R&D value chain, with cross-functional interaction between discovery and development groups at the core of its strategy.

The 'new wave' of discovery technology deals

Datamonitor's analysis indicates that more than 50% of drug discovery deals between pharmaceutical companies and capability providers over the past two years have been focused on target validation and lead identification activities.  (As opposed to target identification, lead optimization and ADMET [absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity] related activities)

Advances in genomics and proteomics have given rise to a range of solutions for improving target identification and validation. These include the use of gene knockout and gene silencing, expression profiling and population genetics based approaches, which Datamonitor's analysis indicates are being employed in a complimentary fashion across the industry. Specifically, more than 60% of target validation deals since Q4 2002 have been based on such technologies.

Lead identification activities on the other hand, are focused on shifting away from 'brute force' methodologies based on the high-throughput screening of large unfocussed compound libraries. Datamonitor's analysis of deal activity indicates that companies are seeking to adopt increasingly rational approaches. Companies have utilized, for example, target and ligand structural knowledge and new tools such as virtual screening in combination with combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening to improve the quantity, quality and diversity of lead compounds.

More efficient R&D

While advances are being made in discrete areas of the drug discovery value chain, emerging fields, such as chemogenomics, are now enabling target identification, validation and lead identification activities to be undertaken simultaneously and in an unprecedented manner. Such capabilities have the potential to promote increased collaboration between, and integration of, previously segregated activities and business functions.

Since Q4 2002, leading pharmaceutical companies, including, Aventis, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Roche have entered into deals seeking to exploit chemogenomic capabilities in target validation, lead identification and compound profiling and prioritization activities.

Driving pipeline resources

Looking forward, in addition to integrating discovery technologies and activities, employing information derived from clinical studies, particularly biomarkers studies, will become an important feature of companies' R&D strategy.

In linking the clinic with the laboratory in this fashion, companies are seeking to facilitate enhanced predictive capability of the likely behavior of human compounds, improving early stage decision making and ultimately reducing the cost burden associated with high rates of clinical trial attrition and freeing pipeline resources.

"The industry can expect the new drug discovery paradigm to be based on the integration of diverse fields," explains Andrew Jones, Healthcare Strategy analyst at Datamonitor. "In this respect R&D success will be dependent on a company's ability to effectively integrate technologies and foster interdisciplinary and cross functional collaboration between groups of researchers at different stages in the value chain."

Related research:

• Addressing Pharma's R&D Productivity Crisis priced $13,600
• Optimizing Promotional Alliances: Benchmarking Co-marketing and Co-promotion Strategies in the Pharmaceutical Industry priced $8,000
• Benchmarking Blockbusters: Identifying winning products and therapy areas to 2008 priced $6,400

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