Drug development: innovation or imitation deficit?

Morgan, S G, Cunningham, C and Law, M R (2012) Drug development: innovation or imitation deficit? British Medical Journal, 345 (e5880). ISSN 0959-8138

Abstract

Light and Lexchin argue that the pharmaceutical innovation crisis is a myth.1 Although they correctly diagnose the issue, the drug approval data provided tell only half of the story. To shed more light on drug development trends, we classified US Food and Drug Administration approvals of new drugs (therapeutic new molecular entities) into one of three mutually exclusive categories: first-of-kind drugs to be approved within chemical or …