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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 24, 2026

Drug Repurposing Hypothesis Generation Using the "RE:fine Drugs" System

Drug Repurposing Hypothesis Generation Using the "RE:fine Drugs" System

Published on: December 11, 2016

Diagnosing the decline in pharmaceutical R&D efficiency.

Jack W Scannell¹, Alex Blanckley, Helen Boldon

¹Sanford C. Bernstein Limited, 50 Berkeley Street, Mayfair Place, London W1J 8SB, UK. Jack.Scannell@Bernstein.com

Nature Reviews. Drug Discovery

|March 2, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Drug research and development (RD) efficiency has declined significantly despite scientific advances. This analysis explores four key issues hindering the discovery of new medicines.

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Area of Science:

Pharmaceutical Science
Biotechnology
Health Economics

Background:

Despite 60 years of scientific and technological progress, commercial drug research and development (RD) efficiency has dramatically decreased.
The number of new drugs approved per billion US dollars spent on RD has fallen approximately 80-fold in inflation-adjusted terms since 1950.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the primary causes behind the declining efficiency in pharmaceutical RD.
To challenge existing assumptions and prompt a systematic analysis of the factors contributing to reduced drug discovery output.

Main Methods:

Qualitative analysis of trends in drug discovery and development.
Identification and discussion of four key problematic factors influencing RD efficiency.
Literature review and synthesis of existing research on pharmaceutical innovation.

Main Results:

Identified four primary factors contributing to declining RD efficiency: the 'better than the Beatles' problem, the 'cautious regulator' problem, the 'throw money at it' tendency, and the 'basic research-brute force' bias.
Observed a significant divergence between increasing inputs and decreasing outputs in drug development.

Conclusions:

The current diagnosis of declining RD efficiency may be flawed, necessitating a re-evaluation of the underlying issues.
A more systematic analysis of the identified factors is crucial for reversing the trend of decreased drug discovery output.