Achieving End-to-end Success in the Clinic: Pfizer's Learnings on R&D Productivity

Overview

Journal Drug Discov Today

Specialty Pharmacology

Date 2021 Dec 18

PMID 34922020

Citations 16

Authors

Kathy Fernando

Sandeep Menon

Kathrin Jansen

Prakash Naik

Gianluca Nucci

John Roberts

Shuang Sarah Wu

Mikael Dolsten

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Over the past decade, Pfizer has focused efforts to improve its research and development (R&D) productivity. By the end of 2020, Pfizer had achieved an industry-leading clinical success rate of 21%, a tenfold increase from 2% in 2010 and well above the industry benchmark of ∼11%. The company had also maintained the quality of innovation, because 75% of its approvals between 2016 and 2020 had at least one expedited regulatory designation (e.g., Breakthrough Therapy). Pfizer's Signs of Clinical Activity (SOCA) paradigm enabled better decision-making and, along with other drivers (biology and modality), contributed to this productivity improvement. These laid a strong foundation for the rapid and effective development of the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine with BioNTech, as well as the antiviral candidate Paxlovid™, under the company's 'lightspeed' paradigm.

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