Create a translational medicine knowledge repository - Research downsizing, mergers and increased outsourcing have reduc
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EDITORIAL
Open Access
Create a translational medicine knowledge repository - Research downsizing, mergers and increased outsourcing have reduced the depth of in-house translational medicine expertise and institutional memory at many pharmaceutical and biotech companies: how will they avoid relearning old lessons? Bruce H Littman1* and Francesco M Marincola2 Abstract Pharmaceutical industry consolidation and overall research downsizing threatens the ability of companies to benefit from their previous investments in translational research as key leaders with the most knowledge of the successful use of biomarkers and translational pharmacology models are laid off or accept their severance packages. Two recently published books may help to preserve this type of knowledge but much of this type of information is not in the public domain. Here we propose the creation of a translational medicine knowledge repository where companies can submit their translational research data and access similar data from other companies in a precompetitive environment. This searchable repository would become an invaluable resource for translational scientists and drug developers that could speed and reduce the cost of new drug development. There is a well known problem in big pharma, low productivity despite high costs. It has become clear that the pharmaceutical industry’s business model is broken [1]. Research-based large pharmaceutical companies have failed to fill their pipelines with enough successful new drugs to maintain growth and replace revenues from older products going off patent. Instead their pipelines have been filled with drug projects that largely have failed to make it to market [2]. Many reasons for this have been postulated but here we focus on the responses of companies to this issue and the repercussions of those actions for translational research in the industry. Companies have consolidated through mergers and acquisitions resulting in lay-offs for thousands of * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Translational Medicine Associates, L.L.C., Stonington, CT 06378, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
researchers and the closing of hundreds of laboratories to avoid perceived redundancies, focus on what is considered to be more productive or lucrative therapeutic areas and save costs [3]. Just consider the closing of Pfizer’s Ann Arbor and St. Louis research sites, the recently announced moving of drug discovery operations from their largest site in Groton, CT and the announced closure of their Sandwich Laboratories in the U.K. These four sites were involved in the demise of many drug projects due to very high rates of attrition but they were also involved in the discovery and development of many great drugs over the last 25 years. Successful branded drugs discovered and/or developed at these sites (in alphabetical order) include Aricept, Cardura, Celebrex, Chantix, Diflucan, Feldene, Geodon, Glucotrol, Lipitor, Lyrica, Neurontin, Norvasc, Procardia, Selzentry,
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