1. In Vivo
  2. >>Archive

The Shrinking Value Of Best-In-Class And First-In-Class Drugs

 
• By Roger Longman

Incumbency ain’t worth what it once was. Pharma companies are spending billions to create advantages that won’t have significant lasting power. Smart followers can do as well – for less.

It’s the Planck constant of the pharmaceutical industry: if you’re going to build a commercially successful drug, it needs to be either first- and/or best-in-class. Either one can create incumbent market share leaders – and incumbents in drugs, like incumbents in the legislature, are enormously difficult to dislodge. As a consequence, the first/best-in-class principles are used to justify enormous risk and enormous expenditures. They’ve even created a market for priority review vouchers.

And yet they're becoming less relevant -- or at least relevant for shorter periods of time.

Read the full article – start your free trial today!

Join thousands of industry professionals who rely on In Vivo for daily insights

  • Start your 7-day free trial
  • Explore trusted news, analysis, and insights
  • Access comprehensive global coverage
  • Enjoy instant access – no credit card required
Start Free Trial

Already a subscriber?

More from Archive

Final Chance To Have Your Say: Take Our Reader Survey This Week

 
• By Eleanor Malone

Editor’s note: This is your final call to participate in the survey to better understand our subscribers’ content and delivery needs. The deadline is 20 September.

Early Development Deals: Ipsen's Strategy For Biomarker-Driven Success

 
• By Eliza Slawther

Mary Jane Hinrichs, Ipsen’s head of early development, talks to In Vivo about getting ahead of the competition by securing deals for candidates before they enter Phase I trials.   

Shape Our Content: Take The Reader Survey

 
• By Eleanor Malone

Editor’s note: We are conducting a survey to better understand our subscribers’ content and delivery needs. If there are any changes you’d like to see in the coverage topics, content format or the method in which you receive and access In Vivo, or if you love it how it is, now is the time to have your voice heard.

In Partnership with Cerba Research

Prioritizing Safety in CAR-T Therapy: Patient Monitoring with Cerba Research’s Testing Portfolio

The cell and gene therapy (CGT) clinical trial landscape in general and CAR-T cell clinical trials in particular are a special focus for the FDA, EMA, and other regulatory agencies. The whole industry is thus aware of the recent FDA safety investigation and requirements for labeling CAR therapy products.

More from In Vivo

Rising Leaders 2025: Emma Hodcroft On Taking Initiative When “Plan A” Falls Short

 
• By Anabel Costa-Ferreira

Emma Hodcroft, co-founder of Pathoplexus and a key Nextstrain contributor, stresses the importance of career flexibility for young scientists. She urges early-stage researchers to embrace curiosity, using her unconventional path as an example of how curiosity can lead to impactful success. 

How Ethris Cracked mRNA’s “Do Not Shake” Problem To Unlock Respiratory Therapeutics

 
• By Jo Shorthouse

A German biotech has solved a fundamental physics problem that has limited mRNA therapeutics to injectable vaccines. Its breakthrough stabilizer technology allows mRNA particles to survive the mechanical stress of inhalation delivery, opening the door to treating chronic respiratory diseases.

Execs On The Move: May 2025

 
• By In Vivo Team

An interactive look at recent executive-level company changes and promotions in the biopharma, medical device and diagnostics industries.