Declining R&D Productivity Continues to Plague Big Pharma

Despite a record number of new drug approvals this year, the return on R&D investment for the largest pharmaceutical companies continues to fall, according to a new report from the Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions and Deloitte’s R&D services group. In fact, the report finds R&D returns for this group of companies have fallen to their lowest point since Deloitte began tracking them in 2010. We spoke to Neil Lesser, principal with Deloitte Consulting in the Life Sciences strategy practice and a leader in the Research & Development strategy practice, about the report, the pressures on the industry that are hurting returns, and what R&D strategies companies can pursue that might reverse the trend.