Case Report: Glaxosmithkline Reorganizing Drug Discovery (a)

Yamada reorganization of drug discovery at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) following a merger to combat bureaucracy in decision making, approval, and authorization. This reorganization was necessary for the continued success of the company. Often the process for drug discovery and market is a slow and tedious process which can cost a company a lot in resources and financially. The smaller biotech companies are able to move quicker and push new drugs to market faster. The shift, Yamada thinks,

Improvements in health care and life sciences are an important source of gains in health and longevity globally. The development of innovative pharmaceutical products plays a critical role in ensuring these continued gains. To encourage the continued development of new drugs, economic incentives are essential. These incentives are principally provided through direct and indirect government funding, intellectual property laws, and other policies that favor innovation. Without such incentives, private corporations, which bring to market the vast majority of new drugs, would be less able to assume the risks and costs necessary to continue their research and development (R&D). In the United States, government action has focused on creating the environment that would best encourage further innovation and yield a constant flow of new and innovative medicines to the market. The goal has been to ensure that consumers would benefit both from technological breakthroughs and the competition that further innovation generates. The United States also relies on a strong generic pharmaceutical industry to create added competitive pressure to lower drug prices. Recent action by the Administration and Congress has accelerated the flow of generic medicines to the market for precisely that reason. By contrast, in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and

The company has been undertaking partnerships with others in a way to advance new technologies

There would also be a couple of synergies for Star Genomics. The first being the deep pockets of Pills & Co. Furthermore, Star Genomics would benefit more at the later stages of a new products development. Biotech companies do not have the sales, marketing and supply chain support as a large pharmaceutical.

Their management team uses relationship management principles to encourage teamwork amongst directors, sponsors and clinical trial investigators. They work to ensure that everyone remains focused on the issue at hand. For example, the Fusion Rx Compounding Pharmacy displays these principles by using

Every organization has the opportunity to maximize their return by how they strategically fit themselves in their respective market place and by how they manage the internal assets to maximize their utilization. InVentiv Health is a Contract Research Organization (CRO) that provides support for commercialization, preclinical research, clinical research and clinical trials management within the pharmaceutical industry. InVentiv Health specializes in clinical trial services and offers their clients the expertise of moving an asset, drug or device through the FDA approval process, from conception to

But researchers are notoriously difficult to manage. A strategic plan cannot force a research breakthrough. Within Amgen therefore 20% of the researchers’ time is free to use as they themselves see fit.

The strategic implications for Vertex attempting to fund and develop four drugs are as following:

Successful IPO offerings by Quintiles and PPD and their subsequent growth to top 5 CROs in the industry (refer appendix 1), Kendle can follow the same strategy and obtain required capital through IPO. Threats: Kendle is losing contracts to larger CRO’s with international presence, industry consolidation, presence of numerous fragmented CRO’s worldwide, growth of many start-ups through financial roll-up strategy, many CRO’s are on an acquisition spree and Kendle is losing bids to companies such as Collaborative due to shortage of capital, ClinTrials negative performance is affecting other CRO stocks. Competitors: The fragmented CRO industry has hundreds of players ranging from small, limited-service providers to full-service CRO’s, and global drug development corporations which possess significantly greater capital, and other resources than Kendle. CROs compete on the basis of experience, medical and scientific expertise in particular therapeutic areas, quality of work, the capability to handle extensive trials worldwide, medical database management capabilities, and relevant technology to advance research. International presence with strategically located facilities, proximity to clients, and financial capability and cost efficiency are also necessary. In order to build these capabilities for competing effectively, the CRO industry is consolidating as

Introduction AstraZeneca PLC (AstraZeneca, AZN:NYSE, AZN:LSE) is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. It was formed in 1999 from the merger of Sweden’s Astra AB and UK’s Zeneca Group plc. Core Activities AstraZeneca is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and biological products for important areas of healthcare: Cardiovascular, Gastrointestinal, Infection, Neuroscience, Oncology, and Respiratory and Inflammation. One of the key benefits of the merger between Astra and Zeneca is seen as their portfolio of new products in development: AstraZeneca call this their 'product pipeline'.

First, it takes an extremely long time to develop a new drug, and only a very small portion of all projects is successful. Projects that the company starts today will determine its financial performance 10-15 years later. Therefore, careful planning of R&D projects is very important for the long-term stability of the company.

GSK is the 2nd largest pharmaceutical firm in the world, and the largest in the UK by sales and profits, it is responsible for 7% of the worlds pharmaceutical market, and has its stocks listed both in UK and US (O 'Rourke, 2002). The origin of the so called blockbuster model, is partly linked with Glaxo (as it was previously known). In the early 80’s, then Glaxo brought to light their first blockbuster drug, Zantac, which was an anti-ulcer drug, which was very similar to the a pre existing drug Tagamet (first ever blockbuster) sold by Smith Kline & French, their completion at the time (MONTALBAN and SAKINÇ, 2011). The introduction of this drug, brought about an increasing sales force in the US, the company soon became dependent on the drug, because it represented a large part of their profit. In 2002, 8 blockbusters of GSK contributed to $14.240 million sales revenue, taking up 53% of its total ethical sales (Froud et al 2006). However, due to the nature of the pharmaceutical industry, the patent began to expire, in other to avoid the patent cliff, Glaxo merged with Wellcome in 1995, which ensured a growing number of sales force, and with Beecham in 2000 (Froud et al., 2006) this merger, boosted the confidence of investors, by growing the business inorganically. For Big Pharma, this block buster model is very profitable, because with the high cost of R&D, the drugs are able to generate ample profit, to cover the sunk costs

The research and development of the pharmaceutical industry is very important as the industry relies on it to develop new products to maintain and sustain the growth of the industry (ALRC 2014). According to the Australian Government Law Reform Commission, every year, the total spending in research and development in pharmaceutical industry, which includes drug discovery, pre-clinical testing and clinical trials on drugs is around $300 million (ALRC 2014). Mergers and acquisitions are intensifying in the global pharmaceutical industry, especially over the last 10 years. With factors like exorbitant research and development costs, the relatively shorter product life cycles, and the rarity of discovering a new life-changing drug acting as catalysts, leading pharmaceutical companies now have more cause to step out and look for external collaboration. This results in an increasing number of smaller biotechnology companies merging with bigger pharmaceutical companies (The

Although R&D has been retained by the large pharmaceutical firms, there has been a continuous decline in the R&D productivity. Controlling R&D is imperative to the success of a Pharmaceutical firm. However, as the pharmaceutical industry is maturing, there are diminishing returns to the R&D investment. Fewer and fewer blockbuster drugs are being discovered and therefore R&D is not the most value adding component in the value

This is a strategic analysis of GlaxoSmithKline that examines the key factors that influence the company and its activities. The strategic analysis will examine key factors in the company’s internal and external environment and their influence on the company’s strategies. GlaxoSmithKline is a global healthcare company that offers pharmaceutical, vaccines and consumer products. The company is a product of various mergers, the latest occurring in 2001 between GlaxoWellcome and SmithKline Beecham. The company started in London United Kingdom in 1715 as Plough Court pharmacy and has evolved to become one of the leading global healthcare companies. The healthcare company operates in more than 150 countries with 89 manufacturing locations and research centers in the USA, China, UK and Belgium. In 2015, the company’s sales grew to £23.9 billion from £23.0 billion in 2014 (GlaxoSmithKline plc. 2015).