R&D strategies aimed at improving clinical success rates and lowering clinical study costs can help drug companies boost the flow of new prescription drugs, a new study said.
Tufts Outlook 2005 report found a new prescription medicine, on average costs $802 million and takes up to 15 years to develop and win FDA approval.
Investing in state-of-the-art information technology, to better understand data generated in discovery, and developing alliances with specialized drug developers remain two of the most promising routes available to drug companies to improve R&D productivity, the report indicated.
Other trends cited include:
-Steps to encourage industry to apply innovation to its manufacturing processes will play a major role in developing new prevention-oriented drugs and biologicals.
-Implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 will spur public and private efforts to quantify the costs and benefits of specific drugs.
-Rapidly rising prescription drug spending will increase pressure on drug developers to prove the cost effectiveness of their products to ensure reimbursement in private and public markets.
-Biotechnology firms are poised to prosper in the near-to-medium term due to their ability to field products with higher approval success rates.
