Big Pharma Innovation Woes Continue

Not surprisingly (especially to those of you that are scientists), the gap between R&D investment and return on investment (in the form of approved therapeutics) continues to grow.

I am well aware of the difficulties inherent in drug discovery and development, but I remain amazed that the massive efforts and resources put forth by thousands of very intelligent people continue to yield subpar results. Is it possible that expectations are too high? Perhaps the much more favorable ratio of investment to approved NME’s in the 90’s was a result of “low hanging fruit”? Is the current return on investment (or lack thereof) sustainable? If not, what is the breaking point?

I suppose this is good news if you own equity in a small biotech and hope to cash out by acquisition!