Portfolio management in early stage drug discovery – a traveler's guide through uncharted territory

Portfolio management in drug development has become a best practice in the pharmaceutical industry. By contrast, early on in the value chain – the discovery phase – portfolio management is still in its infancy. Nevertheless, owing to the attrition of R&D projects from phase to phase and the cost of capital involved, these early phases of drug discovery play a significant part for the overall cost of bringing new, innovative drugs to the market. This paper describes various approaches to manage a portfolio of projects in early-stage drug discovery and provides crucial factors that determine the success of such an approach.