The Intellectual Property and
Science business of Thomson Reuters released its annual synopsis of
pharmaceutical industry trends in its 2014 Pharmaceutical R&D Factbook,
compiled by CMR International, a Thomson Reuters business. The report found a
number of positive trends across the biopharmaceutical landscape—including an
all-time high in pharmaceutical sales and an increase in new molecular entities
(NMEs) and in drugs successfully completing late-stage clinical trials—that
contradict industry perceptions of a decline in R&D productivity. The CMR
Factbook includes data on R&D pipeline volume, success rates, cycle times,
regional comparisons, therapeutic areas, generic drugs, and other areas.
Reuters' researchers reported
that global pharmaceutical sales reached an all-time high of approximately $980
billion in 2013 and are expected to rise to $1 trillion this year. The rate of
growth declined in 2013 compared to previous years, however, due to the
expiration of patent protection on a number of blockbuster drugs in markets
dominated by lower-cost generic equivalents.
The report also notes that the
number of NMEs launched in 2013 was the third highest in the past decade.
Regulators and payers are demanding safer, more effective, and differentiated
drugs to try to contain the rising costs of healthcare. The industry continues
to respond to these challenges by diversifying into areas of unmet need and
rare indications. Approximately half of all drugs were specialty indicated for
the treatment of cancer, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and HIV. All oncology
NME first-world launches in 2013 received orphan drug status. Anti-cancer
development continues to attract the highest amount of investment across all
therapeutic areas.
There has been a decline in
pipeline volumes and success rates in early clinical development phases, yet
there is a trend in stable success rates across the later phases. This
indicates that the industry is improving its ability to “fail fast, fail
cheaply,” which is increasing the success rate of more advanced drug
candidates.
“Pharmaceutical R&D is a
difficult and expensive process in an industry with high expectations,” said
Jon Brett-Harris, managing director of Thomson Reuters Life Sciences, in a
press release. “With much of the recent conversation focused on the hurdles in
the pharma space, it is reassuring to see positive developments and an
encouraging future landscape.”