Company Shakeups
Big Pharma Tries to Shake Things Up
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GSK to shake-up research strategies (Financial Times)
UCSF, Pfizer sign collaborative research deal (San Fransisco Chronicle )
It’s no secret that big pharma players have some work to do on their late-state pipeline and that they are collectively grasping at straws trying to bring in revenue.
Clearly, deciding to reorganize your entire R&D structure isn’t a small undertaking. Head of drug discover at GSK, Patrick Vallance, told a conference in London yesterday (from FT.com article):
GSK would increasingly try to become “more biotech-like” in its efforts to stimulate innovation.
He said drug discovery would be split into “smaller units with a very clear focus on single [disease] areas . . . and reward people based on successful value creation”, with “disincentives” against destroying value.
Wait, reward people based on value creation and discourage people against destroying value? What a crap line. Just say you are shaking things up. I commend GSK for at least making drastic changes to combat a vicious problem.
Pfizer, on the other hand, isn’t being so dramatic. Paying UCSF to do some research is hardly a novel idea; a baby step compared to GSK.
I think the problem isn’t with big pharma though, I think it’s with our expectation. These companies bring in tens of billions of dollars revenue. To sustain a 10% annual growth rate is like adding a blockbuster drug ever year at a minimum (not counting patent expirations). I hope I’m not the only one that thinks this standard might be a bit unreasonable.
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Tags: Drug discovery, Financial Times, GlaxoSmithKline, growth rate, GSK, Medication, pfizer, R&D structure Discussion
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