Drug discovery and development are key functions of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Drug discovery programs are essential for the introduction of new drugs. As more number of patients are diagnosed with new symptoms and syndromes. Drug discovery programs are usually lengthy and involve target identification, target validation, clinical trials, registration and approval. The whole process takes 15 years before the drug is officially launched and marketed. It is important for the governments to make their processes more coherent and less time consuming. Also, policies should be made to make data sharing more efficient. Drugs discovery should be made cheaper by relaxing tax laws, decreasing duties on instrument exports, increasing government and private funding. Introduction of new drugs and changes in the laws can lead to reduced cost and pricing of new target drugs.
At present North American companies have the highest market share in the overall drug discovery market. Major drug discovery technology and service providers are established in the U.S. The market is driven by presence of manufacturing facilities and research labs of major drug manufacturers. North America is also the highest consumer of branded drugs. The assistance of government regulatory bodies and high level of awareness related to life threatening diseases also encourage drug manufacturers to work on target drug discovery. Similar factors along with common regulations across Europe are responsible for a well developed market. European research labs and institutes are driven by favourable environment provided by the European Union. Chinese, Japanese and Indian companies are providing contract research services to major pharmaceutical companies in the West. China is the leading Asian country as major international pharmaceutical companies are building their manufacturing facilities in China.
Key Players
1. Sanofi
2. Johnson and Johnson
3. AstraZeneca
4. Bayer
5. BohringerIngheliem
6. Pfizer
7. GlaxoSmithKline
8. Eli Lily
9. Albany Molecular Research
10. Charles River Laboratories
11. Covance
12. Cyprotex
13. EVT innovate
14. Gen Script
15. Pharmaceutical Product Development
16. Quintiles
17. Viva Biotech
18. WIL research Laboratories
19. WUXI Apptech
