Drugmakers seeking ways to improve testing of experimental drugs

TRENTON, N.J. Pharmaceutical-industry heavyweights are teaming up to address a challenge that has long vexed drugmakers: how to improve the way experimental drugs are tested so they can be approved, and reach patients, faster.

Ten top U.S. and European drugmakers on Wednesday said they have started a nonprofit organization, TransCelerate BioPharma, to collaborate on the problem.

Research productivity across the industry has been declining while costs have been rising over the past few decades. About 5,000 to 10,000 potential drugs fail for every one approved, although all but about five of those compounds are scrapped by the time costly tests in people begin.

Including all the failed drugs, the cost of getting one approved has risen from about $140 million in the 1970s to more than $1.2 billion, according to the industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. That's partly because the process from finding a compound to getting it approved by regulators takes 10 to 15 years.

TransCelerate will aim to shorten that time and reduce costs along the way, initially by developing strategies to make it easier and quicker to set up and run clinical tests of experimental drugs.

That will include developing standard methodology for collecting data from patient tests and ensuring that study participants are protected, as well as setting standards for qualifying clinic sites and investigators to work on studies. Another goal is to increase the number of researchers at hospitals and universities qualified to conduct trials.

"It will enable everybody to develop new drugs faster and better," said the group's acting chief executive, Garry Neil. "If this helps to reduce costs, then maybe we can investigate more drugs."

That's needed, as the number of innovative drugs approved each year has been declining.

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Drugmakers seeking ways to improve testing of experimental drugs