The value generated by a
dollar invested in pharmaceutical R&D has fallen by more than 70% in recent
years, and the industry is in worse shape than many realise.
They are some of the key
points to come out of a new study from the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, which
looked at the 450 new molecular entities approved by the US Food and Drug
Administration between 1996 and 2010. The report claims that this period covers
an 'era of abundance' from 1996 to 2004 and an 'era of scarcity' from 2005
to 2010, divided by the September 2004 withdrawal of Merck & Co's Vioxx
(rofecoxib).