Pharmaceutical R&D Productivity Continues to Improve
According to new data from the Thomson Reuters 2015 CMR Pharmaceutical R&D Factbook, the number of innovative medicines released internationally increased from 20 in 2013 to 46 in 2014, the highest it’s been in 17 years.
Nearly one-third of all R&D spending went towards oncology, making it the most funded area for research. Just in the last year, two cancer drugs were introduced that help the body’s immune cells fight tumors.
The industry has also seen an improvement in the amount of success stories, with the number of projects failing in the final stage of research greatly decreasing in the past six years. In the past three years, projects failing in phase III, fell to 56 from the 68 documented in 2009-2011.
Philip Miller, senior director for clinical and regulatory affairs at Thomson Reuters said, “the industry is looking in really good shape.” He said the industry is also benefiting from a move to specialized drugs which usually advance through clinical development quicker than mass-produced and highly marketable medicines.
Source: reuters.com
