How open innovation could reinvigorate the pharmaceutical industry with fresh R&D opportunities

Partnerships in Clinical Trial 2010 speaker Thomas Senderovitz recently wrote an editorial entitled "How open innovation could reinvigorate the pharmaceutical industry with fresh R&D opportunities." Read the article here.

He brings up several interesting observations about the current state of innovation in the Pharmaceutical market:
-Pharma innovation is often divided into therapeutic innovation and pharmacological innovation
-The cost of bringing new medicines to patients has increased dramatically over recent decades, while productivity has declined
-The pharmaceutical industry has done little to innovate their business model


The article also states:
The best innovative activity occurs when everyone - researchers, companies, government and nongovernment organizations - work together to ensure that new ideas reach public, but are appropriately regulated and efficiently delivered to those who need them.

What are your comments on this? Does the Pharma industry need to change their model? Should more players than just the Pharma companies and CROs work together to create new ideas and bring them to the public?

See Mr. Senderovitz give the keynote speech "Thinking Small in Big Pharma: What Will Future Pharma R&D Look Like?" Tuesday, April 14, 2010 in Orlando at The 19th Annual Partnerships in Clinical Trails Conference. For more on sessions at the conference, visit the Agenda at a Glance here or download the brochure here.