title: Racing to define pharmaceutical R&D external innovation models.
abstract: The pharmaceutical industry continues to face fundamental challenges because of issues with research and development (R&D) productivity and rising customer expectations. To lower R&D costs, move beyond me-too therapies, and create more transformative portfolios, pharmaceutical companies are actively capitalizing on external innovation through precompetitive collaboration with academia, cultivation of biotech start-ups, and proactive licensing and acquisitions. Here, we review the varying innovation strategies used by pharmaceutical companies, compare and contrast these models, and identify the trends in external innovation. We also discuss factors that influence these external innovation models and propose a preliminary set of metrics that could be used as leading indicators of success.
authors.affiliation: Merck Research Laboratories, 2015 Galloping Hill Road, Kenilworth, NJ 07033, USA. Electronic address: liangsu_wang@merck.com.
authors.forename: Liangsu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Sanofi, 54, Rue de la Boetie, Paris 75008, France.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Plump
authors.affiliation: The Boston Consulting Group, Exchange Place, Boston, MA 02109, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ringel
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D063045:Crowdsourcing; D055808:Drug Discovery; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D014495:Universities