The Blockbuster Bubble: What is the Real Trend in R&D Output?

The years 1996 and 1997 were terrific for the biopharmaceutical industry, with record numbers of new product approvals. It is now clear, though, that they were outliers from the historic rates of new product flow. That fact has important implications: the products approved in those years are the blockbusters industry is still living on, and they supported massive infrastructure that Big Pharma now needs to shed.