I found these comments (as reported In the Pipeline and by Pharmalot below) by Sanofi's CEO Chris Viehbacher downright hilarious -- but probably should be read as very sad. Viehbacher was commenting on his company's revised R&D strategy and had this to say.
Sanofi CEO: Who Needs Big Pharma Scientists? // Pharmalot.
- Who needs scientists?
- Big company scientists aren't the best
- You can do R&D cheaper on the outside
- Smart scientists work for biotechs
- Biotech's only work with Big Pharma when they need the money
- VC firms give the straight scoop on a new technology's value
- We can't trust our internal staff to give acccurate valuations as they fall in love with the science
- Big pharma is capable of validating things but that's it
- Big pharma and in fact all big companies are worthless when it comes to innovation
The upshot? Big Pharma should just stick to being an investment banking house capable of funding projects that they've validated by paying VC consultants. Leave the science and innovation to someone talented. But, they don't work here and don't want to : )
Posted by Bruce Lehr Mar 1st 2012.
More on this story from Sanofi via In the Pipeline
http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2012/03/02/a_response_from_sanofi.php
Posted by: bigredbruce | 03/05/2012 at 11:23 AM
This is funny, but somewhat true. I am reading Inside Apple by Adam Linshinsky. In the book, it talks about how Apple is able to function like a start-up even it is a large company. Maybe big pharma can use it as a model to rejuvenate their R&D.
Posted by: Fai | 03/02/2012 at 04:59 PM