Evolution, Status Quo and Latest Trends in Corporate Innovation in Biotech / Pharma

Research Overview

We collaborated with the Solvay Brussels School for Economics and Management (Belgium) on a research paper regarding Corporate Innovation in the field of Biotech / Pharma.

Biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries’ success depends on continuous innovation to prevent and treat diseases. Today the big challenge for the industry is to adopt new strategic and operational models of innovation due to the discovery of new approaches to R&D, which could provide more cost-effective methods and yield greater successes. The costs of producing a marketable drug has increased drastically in recent years due to the greater regulatory oversight, increased competition, and globalization.

Open collaboration and new cooperation and business models such as joint ventures between pharmaceutical companies and other external entities are ways to increase the productivity of pharmaceutical research by facilitating partnerships involving academia and organizations in the public and private sectors. These collaborations facilitate the sharing of expertise, know how, and technologies such as compound databases.

Nearly one third of new pharmaceutical products are now developed through alliances or other kinds of partnership. The major pharmaceutical companies are seeking to acquire novel technologies or new drugs from young biopharmaceuticals. Latest trends are leading biotech companies to perform early-stage drug target identification and leave the bulk of clinical trials, marketing, and later-stage development to larger and well known pharmaceutical companies. Spotting, evaluating and closing lucrative deals require companies to gain as much expertise in pharma-biotech alliances as they have in R&D.