Biotech and pharma: State of the relationship in the new millennium

The relationship between biotech and big pharma is undergoing a sea change. Pharmaceutical companies are failing to turn out significant numbers of new drugs from their internal R&D efforts and must increasingly fill their pipelines by in‐licensing products from biotech companies. Conversely, biotech is more prolific than ever, with the number of approved drugs and late‐stage clinical candidates ballooning in the last few years. However, spurred by changes in the marketplace, including the emergence of new potential partners such as clinical service organizations (CSOs) as well as infusions of capital from the financial market boom of 2000, biotech companies are retaining greater control of their drug candidates and opting for new types of marketing alliances that may or may not include big pharmaceutical concerns. If pharma wants to remain a marketing partner of choice in this new climate, it must fundamentally change the way it views and deals with biotech. Drug Dev. Res. 57:97–102, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.