Changing Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Globalization and New Ways of Drug Development - Tapa dura

The internationalization of research and technology is one key component of the globalization of trade and business, with potentially major impacts on patterns of economic development and public policies worldwide. Although certain aspects of this internationalization trend are well documented, and some effects can be quantified, the overall processes are extremely complex and the outcomes are highly uncertain. The existence of the phenomenon is generally accepted, but its importance and the trends are currently the topic of a lively debate. This study on "New Ways in Drug Development in Pharmaceuticals" is part of a three year project which aims at investigating how new concepts of industrial knowledge creation are implemented in the different environ­ ments of the innovation systems of the United States and Germany. The main focus of the overall project is a series of case studies of innovation practice in different national and sectoral contexts. The following sectors and technological fields are investigated: pharmaceuticals and new ways in drug development by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), advanced materials by the University Hohenheim, Insti­ tute of International Management and Innovation (Alexander Gerybadze), financial services and home banking by the Massachusetts Institute of Tech­ nology (MIT), Center for Industrial Performance (Richard Lester) and the Sloan School of Management (Edward Roberts). Financially the project was supported by the German-American Academic Council, the German Federal Minstry of Education, Science Research and Technology and the Fraunhofer Society.

The internationalization of research and technology is one key component of the globalization of trade and business, with potentially major impacts on patterns of economic development and public policies worldwide. Particularly in the already highly globalized pharmaceutical industry, innovation processes have changed considerably in the last 15 - 20 years. One-dimensional, linear single-actor type processes are being replaced by multi-dimensional, complex, multi-actor schemes. As a consequence, new players are becoming more important, with biotechnology firms playing a key role. This study analyzes these new ways in drug development in pharmaceuticals within the concept of "national systems of innovations" as well as from the perspectives of different actors, and collects a lot of empirical evidence for the assumed type of changes, its repercussion on significant input measures and on the differing performance of national pharmaceutical industries.