The Decline And Fall Of The Pharma Pipeline

2016 saw a drop in the growth rates for both number of products in active development and in the number of companies in active R&D. The data from a new report from Pharmaprojects seem to point to an end to recent years of accelerated growth in the pipeline that followed five years of stagnation.

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The number of products in active development by the pharma and biotech industries rose to an all-time high in January 2017, but this headline figure flattered what were actual drops in the rates of growth not just of this key metric, but also of the number of companies active in R&D. When added to an actual decline in the number of new active substances launched in 2016 (down by 11%), it paints a picture of an industry whose footing has become slightly less secure.

New data from Informa Pharma's Pharma R&D Annual Review 2017 from Pharmaprojects show that there were 14,872 pipeline projects in...

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