The Future of R&D at Bristol-Myers Squibb
This is an exciting time to be researching and developing new medicines. Incredible advancements are being made on a daily basis. New technologies are giving us the ability to discover and develop medicines to treat diseases we never could before. Patients around the world, suffering from a multitude of serious diseases have new treatment options and new opportunities for hope.
No question we’re in the midst of a golden era of medical research. But at the same time we’re in the middle of a complex and rapidly changing economic and regulatory environment that is demanding greater value from our health care system. To thrive in such an environment, pharmaceutical companies need to radically alter their approach to every aspect of the business.
At Bristol-Myers Squibb we have been continually transforming R&D over the years. In the late 1990s, it was all about ramping up discovery with new technologies like high throughput screening, robotics, and genomics, and about integrating R&D more fully into the commercial development process. In the early 2000s we retooled development, built up capabilities, globalized our efforts and made changes to increase the success rates of our drugs during the approval process.
Through a new biologics strategy we are expanding beyond just small molecules and giving ourselves the flexibility to pursue the right target with the right modality. Looking ahead, challenges to our industry will only accelerate. Greater expectations will be set for new medicines.
Our answer to the changing environment is to transform our organization in to what we call a next generation BioPharma. This means combining the best of biotech with the best of pharma. As in biotech, we have a passion for innovative science; a focus in specialty areas; a capability in protein therapeutics; and a culture that is nimble, flexible and entrepreneurial.
We need to combine this with what big pharma offers: appropriate scale, depth of experience in chemistry, clinical development, regulatory affairs and pharmaceutical development. That is again … the best of bio, the best of pharma. BMS is well positioned to evolve to such a next generation company. This new model will allow us to thrive in this challenging but exciting future.
Elliott Sigal, M.D., Ph.D.
Executive Vice President
Chief Scientific Officer
President of R&D
Bristol-Myers Squibb
December 11, 2007