Balancing Drug Development Resources

Abstract

Increasing economic pressures are now causing research and development (R&D) executives to take a more critical look at the costs of drug development. One approach for improving efficiency is to insure that sufficient resources are available from all the key disciplines and can be deployed when needed. An analytical procedure for estimating and balancing preclinical resources is outlined. The variables which are factored into this analysis include the timing of the resource need, the contributing scientific disciplines, the type of study, the type of product, drop-out rates, product mix, resource turnover, total development time, and the number of products in the pipeline. The result of this analysis provides quantitative information which makes it possible to assign resources to each functional area in a balanced manner.