Payback: Making Innovation Count in Uncertain Times

Pharmaceutical innovation is not generating payback, the equation for which--and the cash-flow goals--are changing radically. That means that companies must re-think innovation, based on its ability to help companies navigate the four key S-Factors of the cash curve: start-up costs, speed to market, support costs, and scale operations. Some innovations will negotiate this and generate payback; others with apparently equal potential will dawdle in a single phase, consuming cash.