Drug pipeline

A drug pipeline is the set of drug candidates that an individual

usually have a number of compounds in their pipelines at any given time.

The drug pipeline is an important indicator of the value and future prospects of a company. Usually the more compounds in the pipeline, and the more advanced stage that these are in the better. Other factors that are taken into account when assessing the value of a pipeline include the size of the target market of each drug, the market share that the drug is expected to capture and the risk that it will not be approved.

Some biotechnology companies, which are at or near the clinical stage and have attracted investors, are often bought by large pharmaceutical companies for high prices. However, these biotech companies may face failures, particularly in producing near-term products. This can lead to the shutdown of the acquired companies, resulting in the loss of accumulated knowledge and expertise.^[4] The cost of developing a new drug is astronomical – typically a drug costs many hundreds of millions and can reach 1 billion dollars over 15–17 years. Assessing this risk and filtering out, as early as possible, compounds that may not eventually get approved is essential to the pharmaceutical industry and involves checking the effectiveness of drugs as well as the likelihood of toxic events (Adverse event prediction).

References

External links

• Long G (July 2017). The biopharmaceutical pipeline: innovative therapies in clinical development (PDF) (Report). Boston: Analysis Group Inc., produced for Pharmaceuticals and Manufacturers of America.