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Pharmaceutical Innovation Through Academic Alliances
Decision Resources, Inc, April 2005, Pages: 14
For decades, pharmaceutical companies have been acutely aware of the wealth of relevant, innovative scientific research conducted outside their walls and their need to access that innovative research to boost their future success. Although these companies have always recognized the need to collaborate with universities, the rise of molecular genetics since the 1980s and the consequent increasing complexity of drug discovery and development have driven the recent flourishing of such alliances. Academic-pharma alliances now fit many models, from a private consulting relationship between two individuals to large institutional partnerships.
In this report, we provide some background on these alliances and then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of alliances both for academia and for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. We also review various measures for assessing the 'success' of such alliances and analyze the prospects for future alliances.
Business Implications
- Pharmaceutical companies have always been aware of the need to collaborate with universities as a source of crucial innovation, but the rise of molecular genetics since the 1980s and the consequent increasing complexity of drug discovery and development have driven the recent flourishing of such alliances.
- For pharmaceutical companies, the key advantage of these alliances is gaining access to the latest top-quality research. This access enables them to supplement their in-house resources by filling gaps in their technology and helping them isolate the subset of potentially useful targets from the thousands available. Other benefits include risk reduction achieved through outsourcing of early-stage research, accelerated development, and more efficient use of resources.
- One disadvantage of these alliances is the conflicting timescales of industry and academia, as academics have significantly longer-term horizons than industry and often want to establish longer projects than companies can commit to. Other potential stumbling blocks include the need for companies to surrender some control over research directions and concerns on both sides about confidentiality and publishing of results.
- The outlook for academic-industry alliances is positive, as companies continually strive to cut their fixed costs and look to academia for early-stage research assistance. Some tensions will persist, however, mainly involving conflicting timelines.
- Certain alliance models--such as consulting, virtual collaborative institutes, and industry engaging academics in clinical research--are likely to thrive more than others. Spin-outs may decline in number but be stronger. European academics will continue to become more entrepreneurial and open to industry alliances, following the U.S. model, as former stigmas fade.
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