R is for readout

While AstraZeneca plc gets credit for transparency in publishing its metrics on R&D productivity, the data cover well-established targets addressed by conventional modalities. The more telling test for its “5R framework” will be whether it can accelerate development in white space areas with novel biology.

AstraZeneca’s analysis, published last month in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, follows up on a 2014 analysis in the same journal in which the company took stock of pipeline failures from 2005-2010. Compared with industry averages, AstraZeneca was bringing more compounds into late stage development, but they were failing at a higher rate due primarily to insufficient safety, target validation, proof of target engagement or patient stratification...