This Seminar Briefing recounts the key points made by Prof Riccaboni, from the University of Trento, at a recent OHE Lunchtime Seminar.  It focuses primarily on the reasons for a decline since 2000 in the average number of new drugs launched per year by the pharmaceutical industry.  Factors identified as important include a trend towards targeting more complex and difficult diseases, the need to adapt to dramatic changes in scientific knowledge and in R&D approaches, and substantial changes in both the regulatory and marketing climates.

In addition to describing overall trends, Prof Riccaboni also compares the R&D performance of companies based in the US and Europe, and a set of “global” companies. He finds that the global companies rank highest on R&D productivity and equal US companies in the market value of their new drugs.