Pfizer vs. J&J: Antithesis to Synthesis
Executive Summary
The two polar opposites of pharmaceutical strategy--Pfizer with its primary-care, highly centrallized approach and J&J with its niches and decentralization--are testing the limits of their models' capabilities. But these two antitheses are now beginning to move towards a synthesis.
You may also be interested in...
Pfizer R&D: The Biggest Pharmaceutical Experiment
In an interview, Peter Corr, the new head of the industry's largest R&D organization, argues that scale, properly managed, can solve the key problem for innovative R&D organizations: the ability to feed both early- and late-stage development. Smaller firms create unbridgeable pipeline gaps by having to focus on the late-stage and starving the early work. Moreover, Pfizer is making a huge investment in attrition-reducing early-clinical technologies, especially imaging, to find biomarkers which will tell researchers whether a drug is working in humans before it begins more expensive trials. Again scale is crucial: Pfizer's investment can be amortized over a large number of projects, making it financially more affordable and productive for Pfizer than a similar investment would be for smaller companies. To increase the utilization and productivity of this investment, Corr wants to increase Pfizer's in-licensing of preclinical and Phase I compounds--a dramatic change in Pfizer's licensing habits, which have focused on late-stage opportunities and the acquisition of discovery platforms.
Biden Administration Is Setting An Example For Safe AI Use In Federal Organizations
A new memorandum by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget initiated a government-wide policy that will appoint AI officers to all agencies to address risks for AI use and serve as an example for greater AI adoption.
US FDA Drugs Center Ready To Break Down Silos On Regulatory Innovation
CDER Director Cavazzoni is promising to increase coordination and collaboration to accelerate broader adoption of innovative clinical trial designs and other approaches to speed drug development. A new "Quantitative Medicine Center of Excellence" illustrates the approach.