BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - February 5, 2008) - How drug developers organize their companies
affects operational and financial performance, according to new research
findings presented to a panel of industry leaders convened by the Tufts
Center for the Study of Drug Development.
The research, developed by Tufts CSDD and PRTM, an operations management
consulting firm, found that:
* Globally positioned operations correlate with higher sales per product,
annual number of approvals, and levels of operating efficiency, as measured
by higher average 10-year EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax,
Depreciation, and Amortization) margins.
* Operations with more diverse product portfolios, such as more therapeutic
areas of focus, correlate with higher levels of operating efficiency and
commercial and innovation effectiveness.
* Organizations with centralized decision-making structures correlate with
higher levels of innovation efficiency.
* Organizations with more integrated business units correlate with higher
levels of revenue growth.
"Moving forward, no company -- big, medium, or small pharma, or biotech --
will develop new drugs entirely alone," said Tufts CSDD Director Kenneth I
Kaitin, who co-chaired the panel. "Increasingly, R&D productivity gains
will depend on developers focusing on what they contribute best to the drug
development value chain and partnering with organizations that provide
capabilities that are too expensive to develop or maintain internally, or
are outside of the company's core competencies."
He added that "while traditional responses to boost R&D productivity, such
as full or partial vertical integration strategies, still carry validity,
they are not the wave of the future, since they tend to divert attention
away from what a company does best."
Panelists agreed that to speed the pace of new drug development,
pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies will not only partner with
each other, but will also form strong alliances with organizations outside
the drug development industry, such as overnight shipping companies.
The panel, part of the Tufts CSDD Management R&D Roundtable Series, was
organized to identify operating models that can improve R&D productivity.
Presenting to the group were:
* Kenneth I Kaitin, director, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug
Development
* Robert Franco, director of life sciences consulting, PRTM
* Paul Richard Biondi, vice president, R&D operations, Bristol-Myers
Squibb
* Graeme Currie, vice president, clinical operations, PDL BioPharma
* Ken Getz, senior research fellow, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug
Development
* Mark A. Goldberg, president of clinical research services and
perceptive informatics, PAREXEL International
* Juergen Krause, vice president, R&D strategy and operations, Millennium
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
* Paul Lammers, chief medical officer, EMD Serono, Inc.
* Evan Loh, vice president, multiple therapy areas, clinical R&D, Wyeth
* Ellen Ridge, vice president, portfolio management, Genzyme Corporation
* Michael Taylor, president and CEO, Ensemble Discovery
Scheduled R&D Management Roundtables
Roundtable meetings in 2008 will focus on the following:
* Feb. 28 -- Strategic Outsourcing and Global Drug Development
* May 1 -- Leveraging Metrics and Market Factors for Portfolio Decision
Making
* Sept. 11 -- Optimizing Protocol Design - Strategies to Improve Clinical
Research Performance
* Nov. 6 -- Assessing Change and Opportunity in the Phase I Landscape
To register, call 617-636-2170.
About the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development
The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (
http://csdd.tufts.edu)
at Tufts University provides strategic information to help drug developers,
regulators, and policy makers improve the quality and efficiency of
pharmaceutical development, review, and utilization. A core element of the
Center's educational efforts, the CSDD Institute for Professional
Development produces the R&D Management Roundtable series, along with
postgraduate level courses, training workshops, symposia, and public
forums.
Contact Information: Contact:
Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development
Charlene Neu
617-636-2187
Business Communication Strategies
Peter Lowy
617-734-9980