Alliances between Pharmaceutical Companies and Bio-ventures A Comparative Analysis of Japanese, U.S. and European Pharmaceutical Companies
Toshiro Takatori (Former Senior Research Fellow, Pharmaceutical and Industrial Policy Research Institute)
Kenta Nakamura (Lecturer, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University, Adjunct Collaborative Researcher, Center for Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University)
Sadao Nagaoka (Professor, Center for Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University)
Yuji Honjo (Professor, Faculty of Commerce, Chuo University; Adjunct Collaborative Researcher, Center for Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University)
(No.48: Published November 2009)
As it becomes increasingly difficult for pharmaceutical companies to create new drugs, drug discovery-type bio-ventures (hereafter referred to as "drug discovery ventures"), which create new drugs based on their own biotechnology-based drug discovery technologies, are making their presence known. In order for pharmaceutical companies to efficiently and effectively create innovative drugs, it has become an important strategic issue for them to form alliances with drug discovery ventures in order to capture new drug seeds and enhance their development pipelines. In recent years, pharmaceutical companies have been acquiring biotech ventures, and there is a trend toward greater vertical integration between the two.
This study aims to examine the importance of drug discovery ventures in the development pipelines of major drugs and new drugs launched by Japanese, U.S., and European pharmaceutical companies, the importance of acquiring seeds through licensing or acquisition from drug discovery ventures in the development pipelines of pharmaceutical companies, and the relationship between Japanese, U.S., and European pharmaceutical companies. The study will analyze the differences between Japanese, U.S., and European pharmaceutical companies, whether the quality of externally introduced seeds is high or not, and how the introduction of external seeds affects the performance of pharmaceutical companies.