Abstract
Companies with Proven Credentials Have an Edge in the Market
Building credibility in the market is the most important challenge that needs
to be overcome by industry participants to succeed in a competitive market
scenario. Credibility of an existing contract research participant comes from
past record including contract research work carried out in terms of type of
work, the sponsor involved, and quality of work done. Additionally, elements
such as domain expertise, high quality labor, and infrastructure are also
necessary to build credibility. Macro economic variables also decide the quantum
and type of contract research work.
This Frost & Sullivan research examines the drug discovery contract
research markets and provides profiles of the top 50 global outsourcers. It
offers profiles of key outsourcers of drug discovery contract research, covers
key drivers and restraints, as well as provides strategic recommendations to
overcome market challenges. The report has segments on outsourcing of research
by big and mid-sized pharma and biotech companies as well as other companies,
mainly agri-based, chemical, and government agencies.
Low Productivity despite Increased R&D Budget Encourages Outsourcing
of Research Activity
Although the top pharmaceutical and biotech companies have pumped copious
funds into R&D, the discovery of chemical entities has been hitting new
lows. Managing technology has become an important impediment to overcome in
improving R&D productivity. Developments in proteomics and genomics
notwithstanding, attrition rates of drugs in the pipeline have varied
considerably and biotech majors are looking for a surefire strategy to remedy
the situation. "The strategy that has found favor with most companies is
outsourcing of drug discovery to optimize resources for a win-win
situation," states the analyst.
Outsourcing technology helps the bigger biotech and pharmaceutical companies
focus energies on other critical issues and most importantly, it offers them the
leverage to liaise with the technology developed in a multitude of ways, from
licensing agreements to outright purchase. "With big and mid-sized
companies outsourcing research contracts worth millions of dollars globally,
smaller enterprises that offer cost and other strategic advantages to sponsors
have proliferated," notes the analyst.
Time- and Labor-intensive R&D Processes Facilitate Move to Outsourcing
Innovations in modern discovery technologies, disappointingly, have not done
much to speed up or simplify the drug discovery process. Biotechnologies such as
genomics, high-throughput screening, combinatorial chemical synthesis, and
proteomics studies are throwing up massive volumes of biological and chemical
data, creating a bottleneck in the drug discovery market. Optimization of the
R&D process will save both pharmaceutical and biotech enterprises precious
time and costs.
"Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are increasingly appreciating the
need to delineate the focus on time and laborious drug discovery processes and
outsource," observes the analyst. The resultant cost and resource savings
in an increasingly labor-intensive process is expected to drive drug discovery
contract research in future.
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