Trends underlying early-stage drug discovery and development collaborations from October 2002 to September 2004

Abstract

As part of Datamonitor's alliance and licensing strategic analysis, the authors have completed a two year survey of the trends underlying early-stage drug discovery and development collaborations between October 2002 and September 2004, which included 524 early-stage deals. Deal analysis shows that the leading pharma and biotech companies (fully integrated players) are the principal collaboration seekers, and that target and product innovation is driving the new wave of 21st century deals. These deals cover all phases of early-stage drug development, with lead product/target identification/validation accounting for the greatest proportion of collaborations. This represents a shift away from initial-stage collaborations, which are primarily focused on technologies such as genomics, as a result of the lack of tangible results that such technologies have delivered in the past. Following the continuously increasing demand for late-stage high-value products, the aim of the money and time invested in these early-stage collaborations is to reverse the pipeline productivity crisis currently affecting the industry's leaders over the mid to long term.