Another magic cure against everything! Pharma Industry!

Innovation in the Biopharmaceutical Pipeline: A Multidimensional View. (.pdf is here). Very interesting reading! The numbers and the scale are amazing!

As illustrated in Figure 2 below, as of December 2011, there were more than 17,000 projects (i.e., unique molecule-indication combinations) in clinical development and a total of about 12,000 products (or new medicines that would be submitted for FDA review as NMEs) in development.

§  Preclinical research accounted for the highest number of projects (over 9,000) and potential new medicines (over 6,500). These figures are likely an underestimate, as many preclinical research activities may not yet have been the subject of news or analyst coverage or may only be known to the researchers and manufacturers involved, and therefore would not yet be reflected in the dataset.

§  Over 5,400 new products were in clinical development (defined in this report as products in Phase I, II, III, or having been filed with the FDA, or approved by the FDA, but not yet on the market in the U.S.). Since a single product may be investigated for multiple indications, and because the data include additional indications for products already approved and on-market, the number of pipeline projects in clinical development is larger, or about 8,000.

 

Consistent with previous studies showing high attrition rates between Phase II and the much more expensive and lengthy Phase III clinical trial stage, there were many fewer compounds at each progressive phase of development. Whereas there were 2,329 molecules recorded in Phase II clinical trials, there were only 833 products in Phase III trials. A total of 82 products in the dataset had completed Phase III clinical trials and had either been filed with the FDA or were approved by the FDA, but had not yet been launched in the U.S.

 

And the numbers is not the only thing! There are a lot of innovative products! For sure!

 

A range of novel scientific approaches to address various diseases and conditions were being

pursued. Broad classes of scientific “platforms” readily identifiable in the dataset revealed:

- 245 projects using cell therapy;

- 127 projects using antisense RNA interference therapy (an approach that targets RNA, which

carries genetic information that creates proteins, rather than proteins themselves);

- 102 projects using monoclonal antibodies joined to cytotoxic agents to target tumor cells

while sparing nearby healthy cells; and

- 99 projects using gene therapy.

 

Well, I guess in about 10 years we will get cured all diseases and people will die absolutely healthy!