With three to four years in the books, Big Pharma’s updated tie-ups with academia have started to progress – some have even reached first-in-human stages, but these updated models have yet to produce any radical results that show they are an improvement over old-style partnerships.

The superior R&D and growth performance of mid-sized companies like Celgene, Gilead, or Biogen can be attributed to a number of factors such as the size of the R&D budget, portfolio focus, a good mix of internal and external innovation sourcing, but most importantly a strong culture, leadership, and the ability to attract the right people. Part 3 of Catenion’s review of pharma R&D productivity.

December's ANDA rush has provided the largest monthly haul in two years. However, the month may be losing its influence over the US FDA's annual submission total.