Biopharmaceutical R&D outsourcing: Short-term gain for long-term pain?

Etienne Billette de Villemeur, Jack Scannell and Bruno Versaevel

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: From the perspective of pharmaceutical companies, R&D outsourcing offers a range of benefits. For example, costs that were otherwise fixed can become variable, and firms can gain rapid access to a large set of new technologies. Recent theoretical work has added to the list by connecting R&D activities characterized by economies of scope and knowledge spillovers -- those that are likely to have the biggest effect on industry economics and social welfare – to the ability of large drug companies to capture a disproportionate share of economic value from, and transfer a disproportionate share of financial risk to, small new technology providers. The low profitability and high risk associated with the provision of such outsourced R&D activities reduce incentives to invest in new for-profit ventures that specialize in the most promising early-stage projects. We hypothesize that the short- to medium-term efficiency gains from R&D outsourcing may, therefore, be offset by slower innovation in the long run.

Keywords: research; development; biotechnology; pharmaceuticals; externalities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L13 L65 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ppm, nep-sbm and nep-tid
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Related works:
Working Paper: Biopharmaceutical R&D outsourcing: Short-term gain for long-term pain? (2022)
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