There has been an upsurge in the economics of Pharma industry. Physicians, public health officials, hospital administrators and other health experts are becoming progressively more conscious about informed systematic analyses of the problems of financing, organizing and distributing health services. On the other hand, economists are discovering the importance of economic and challenge of healthcare. One such concept is Research & Development.
Let us discuss the growing demand for R&D in Pharma industry.
Research & Development
Research & Development is critical in all industries. And, when it comes to the pharmaceutical industry, R & D not only generates income for the organizations/companies involved in the research but it often results in lives being saved and enhances the quality of patient’s life. It is the most important part of the whole medical process. In these fast changing times, Pharma companies have to find alternate or innovative ways and new ideas to keep up with the changing/emerging needs of their consumers. As part of Research & Development, a team of researchers come up with fresh new ideas to enhance productivity.
The major issue with Pharma R & D is that, it is a time-consuming and costly process. However, Pharma companies are interested to put their budget towards the development of medicines that will generate a profit and deliver a return on their considerable investment. Due to this reason, private and government funding is required to promote investigation into untested processes, new compounds and the improvement of low profitable medications, such as those for unusual diseases.
Researchers have estimated that, it costs around £1.6billion to bring a single successful compound through the entire research and development process. This is a huge amount for any healthcare provider and patient who make a purchase. Once an efficient compound is recognized, it will be processed into an appropriate liquid or solid dosage form. For example, tested processes including extrusion and spheronization, pharmaceutical granulation are used to mix active ingredients with excipients in order to create capsules and tablets.
Pharmaceutical companies off load their research and development responsibilities to Contract Research Organizations (CROs) to minimize costs. Pharma companies are now looking to eliminate inefficiencies in the industry through the comprehensive R & D strategies as they play a vital role in harmonizing regulatory requirements across all major Pharma markets.
Changing Trends in R& D
The global pharmaceuticals industry is highly research intensive and innovative firms spend on average about 15 per cent sales turn over in R&D. On the other hand, R&D expenditure as percentage of sales turnover of Indian pharmaceuticals industry remained less than 2 per cent throughout the period till the beginning of the new millenniums.
