Boogins

Pharmaceutical Facts Investors Should Know

These numbers are for historic interest only, and represent the absurd 'try a million combinations of everything' approach to drug development traditionally followed by big pharma. It is the root cause behind why big pharma has so little to offer now, as it simply makes developing anything other than a mega blockbuster economically unwise.

Enter biotech, and rational drug design. Layer on top a thick portion of biopharmaceuticals, ie 'natural' products such as insulin, interferon, and various antibodies that represent the harnessing the power of human biology to solve therapeutic riddles. Young, limber, unencumbered companies are afoot now and smell the big game waiting to be taken. The cash rich but pipeline poor big pharma companies are slowly waking up to the fact that they need to either jettison their job secure research divisions or go on a buying spree, or both.

In any event, forget the numbers mentioned in the article. If they are at all relevant now, it is only to show how bankrupt of ideas and how pitiful in conception big pharma's approach is.