Lilly hails progress of new R&D approaches
pharmafile | February 16, 2011 | Feature | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Chorus, Mirror Portfolio, R&D, lilly
Lilly says two of its experimental approaches to re-designing R&D are beginning to pay off.
Like all of its peers, the Indianapolis-headquartered company is moving away from large-scale in-house R&D units and towards smaller, more autonomous groups and more external partnerships.
Several chief executives have recently spoken out on the poor productivity of industry’s pipelines, which have generally failed to produce new blockbuster products to replace the wave of top-selling medicines now going off patent.
Lilly’s John Lechleiter has called the R&D problem a ‘crisis’ for the industry, and needs to convince investors his own company has the answer to the conundrum.
The first of Lilly’s two models is dubbed the ‘Mirror Portfolio’ and involves funding external researchers through independent investment funds.
The concept was created by Lilly to give it access to innovation being developed beyond its walls, and has now reached its first significant milestone. One of the independent venture capital firms participating in the Mirror Portfolio has acquired two molecules, and will oversee the next stage of their development. The first is a molecule developed pre-clinically by researchers at a major academic institution that is being studied as a potential treatment for congestive heart failure; the second molecule was developed by Lilly and is being studied for its potential in bone healing and cancer.
Robert Armstrong, head of global external R&D at Lilly said the licensing of the molecules by the independent funds was an important step forward for the new approach.
“Working with venture capital to make the concept of the Mirror Portfolio a reality is one way Lilly is ‘innovating on innovation’ as we strive to support the development of new medicines for the benefit of patients around the world,” said Robert W. Armstrong, vice president, global external research and development, Lilly . “Another benefit of the Mirror Portfolio is that it provides access to capital, capacity, capability and deep disease expertise that can be focused on developing molecules generated in research institutions or biotechnology companies, with the potential for rights to successful molecules to be purchased by Lilly.”
A key element in the Mirror Portfolio are the investment funds, to which Lilly has committed to contribute 20% of the capital for these funds, or a total commitment of up to $150 million.
Lilly will receive preferential access to molecules managed by the funds, and retains the rights to purchase all molecules licensed from Lilly via the Mirror Portfolio, as well as to evaluate and acquire a limited number of externally sourced compounds, all at fair market value.
A growing Chorus
The other novel model is Chorus, a small multidisciplinary drug development group within Lilly which conducts early-stage development work using a virtual model. First launched in 2002, the Chorus group focuses on designing and efficiently executing lean and highly focused development plans that progress compounds from candidate selection to clinical proof-of-concept in human clinical trials.
Lilly says this approach has allowed Chorus to reach decisions about 12 months earlier and at about half the cost of the current industry model. To date, Chorus has delivered data on 17 molecules, six of which resulted in positive proof-of-concept clinical data. Due in part to its successful track record and the increased demand for capacity related to the Mirror Portfolio opportunities.
The company has now ‘cloned’ the original Chorus (now known as Chorus Premier) with the establishment of Chorus Resonance in Indianapolis, Chorus Europe in the UK and Vanthys, a joint venture in India. Lilly will make these drug development groups available to the funds as a fee-for-service offering, although other alternative drug development organisations may be used.
“Lilly’s establishment of the Mirror Portfolio supports our innovation strategy which consists of three key components – molecule uniqueness, speed and cost efficiencies – which together are the cornerstone of our research and development philosophy,” said Jan Lundberg, executive vice president of science and technology, Lilly, and president, Lilly Research Laboratories.
“Seeing the Mirror Portfolio now in action with the entry of these first molecules gives us great confidence in our ability to leverage innovation beyond our walls in order to deliver truly breakthrough medicines for the patients who are waiting.”
The need to placate worried investors is particularly acute for Lilly at the moment, as October sees the US patent expiry of its flagship brand Zyprexa. The drug earned $2.5 billion in the US last year, and is likely to see much of this eroded over the next two years.
Andrew McConaghie
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