Millennium Makes Its Case as a Drug Developer

Millennium claims to have an edge over Big Pharma and big biotechs: an evolved biology-driven approach to discovery and development derived from its roots in genomics, and a corporate culture based on integrating outside technologies that minimizes the Not-Invented-Here syndrome. Skeptics point to the fact that of the hundreds of targets it delivered to partners, none has resulted in a clinical candidate. Nonetheless, Millennium believes it now has a critical mass of knowledge about biological pathways that it can use for shrewd in-licensing and to choose those internal targets from which it will develop small-molecule drugs. But whether R&D proves to be a fertile source of internally discovered compounds or a sophisticated adjunct for licensing and development, Millennium's real challenge is to build a commercial organization and prioritize programs and capacity as it redirects its spending downstream.