ABPI report highlights shift towards collaborative drug discovery

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has published research highlighting the increasingly collaborative nature of drug discovery projects in the UK.

Produced by consultants TBR and CBSL, the Changing UK Drug Discovery Landscape? study indicated that 60 percent of major pharmaceutical companies have increased investment in outsourced and collaborative drug discovery work in the UK over the last decade.

At the same time, the number of in-house drug discovery lab staff has dropped, suggesting a broad-based shift towards greater partnership working across the biopharmaceutical sector.

By working more closely with academia, medical research charities, contract research organisations and biotech companies, drugmakers have been able to make vital progress in fields such as immunotherapy research and treatments for rare or degenerative diseases.

This in turn is leading to growing demand for in-house drug discovery coordination roles in order to facilitate further collaborations.

Dr Neil Weir, chair of the ABPI Innovation Board and senior vice-president of discovery research at UCB, said: "The findings of the report reflect a dynamic, changing and complex drug discovery landscape that is increasingly moving to a networked model and away from large, fully-integrated organisations conducting R&D in isolation."

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