Prognosis
Big Pharma Grants License to Kill Drug Programs as Costs Surge
- Companies ditch ‘the baggage and the bloat’ of dead-end drugs
- Pressure from insurers, swelling costs spur industry shift
Drug companies are increasingly seeking to cull medicines under development to save money.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Big Pharma is looking for good kills, and its own labs are the hunting ground.
Industry executives long trained to sniff out blockbuster drugs are now having to hone another skill: a feel for medicines that are unsafe, unoriginal or just unlikely to succeed. As costs escalate, knowing when to terminate those medicines has become just as important as when to move forward.