I’m sure it comes as no surprise to anyone reading this article that we have a problem in drug development. Pharmaceutical companies are having to face up to not just one but three major issues:

A paucity of new drug approvals

Spiraling drug development costs

A tranche of products coming off patent over the period 2012 to 2014

Any of these issues on their own would prove a tough nut to crack, the fact that they are all converging at the same time is creating a perfect storm that shows no sign of abating. Realistically it is likely that no one solution is going to cure the industry’s woes and put it back on a path to profitability.

Working towards a new model: Research Exchanges

Reduced R&D costs, combined with a more flexible approach to development, including outsourcing, are likely to form part of the new model. By bringing together services from all research providers into one web-based platform, research exchanges like Scientist have the potential to dramatically improve how life science research is done.

Read the full article by Scientist’s Kevin Lustig and Maria Thompson published this week in International Clinical Trials.