A panel of research-based drug industry leaders recently convened by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) reported that drug companies are engaging in innovative partnerships that are leading to more molecular entities entering Phase I trials and shorter study times.

“Drug developers have gotten the message that they need to innovate ‘better, faster, and cheaper’ — without sacrificing patient safety — and partnering is proving to be an effective strategy,” said Tufts CSDD Director Kenneth I Kaitin. “By aligning with others, drug developers are hoping to accelerate the translation of scientific findings into new medicines.”

According to Mr. Kaitin, one large pharmaceutical company, teaming with external partners, reported increasing the number of NMEs entering Phase I from an average of five a year to 16. The company also reported that it raised Phase II success rates from 14% to 41% during a recent five-year period.

The industry executives from the Tufts CSDD Executive Forum Roundtable also reported that: a new entity, known as a technology scout organization, is helping large pharma companies identify technologies and platforms that currently are not being commercialized; “umbrella agreements” with large universities enable developers to broaden relationships with individual researchers to identify marketable products; and trial sharing, where two companies share the same Phase I trial, has enabled developers to quickly learn whether joint administration of their compounds can enhance therapeutic outcomes.