Open Innovation

Ready for Open Innovaiton? September 22, 2010

As OI has been on the agenda for quite some time now, I am still doubting Pharma’s readiness. I do not see great progress, and it seems tougher than ever to get our industry to change path.

Why is this?

First, pharma sales keep increasing, and as the curve goes up, the willingness to change IP or business model goes down.

Second, as of yet, the “old IP” models is firmly established and also the basis of almost all pharma deals. As no alernative IP model has gained leadway yet, the old model will continue to drive business. I see a certain need for governmental proactivity to think through a better IP model.

Third, a sigificant change in capacity and objectives of regulatory authorities will be necessary. As we may have come to the end of single target drug discovery (I do not beleive significant therapeutic advances will be made with single target drugs), the obvious need for thinking pathways and develop multi-target drugs will create new regulatory challenges. It is key that regulators see this, and join forces with academia as well as pharma to overcome these.

I am aware that OI is not the only answer. It is in fact a significant challenge, and may have to move from conceptual thinking to real-life examples. For many people, it has the same fuzziness around it as e.g. “systems biology”. It sounds new and hot, but what does it mean?

Well, until we start seeing real pioneering companies jumping borders, it may very well remain like this.

I invite comments/view points to this blog.