Despite tremendous challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry, it continues with its commitment to innovation and the discovery of novel drugs to address unmet medical needs. Indeed, medicinal chemists face a challenge of their own. Trying to survive in a changing environment where pharma is focusing on biologics drug candidates will require chemists to adapt.

CHEManager International asked R&D experts of chemical and pharmaceutical companies to elaborate on their research strategy and share their opinion with our readers. In detail, we interviewed professionals ranging from CEOs to heads of R&D and process development about:

The crucial success factors in chemical and pharmaceutical research.

Dr. Karl Kolter:Œ The most crucial success factor — and this holds true not only for pharma but also for other industries — is that we do not only talk about innovation but live innovation. This means that all units of a company strive for innovation, not just the R&D department, and all consider it as an indispensable factor for the future of the company. It also means that the required resources are provided and people are empowered to make decisions.

“The most crucial success factor …
is that we do not only talk
about innovation but live innovation.”

Dr. Karl Kolter,
Vice President Global Research &
Formulation Nutrition & Health,
BASF

I am pretty sure that we will see in the future much more interaction — interaction within a company as well as between independent companies whether they are customers, competitors, service providers, contract research organizations (CROs) etc. It is great to have our own specialists, but it is impossible to have them in all fields. A high degree of networking between the various specialists will not only solve current problems, but it also offers more opportunities in open innovation. This does not mean that open innovation is restricted to specialists only.

Challenges and changes affecting the work of R&D chemists in the future.

Dr. Karl Kolter:Ž On the other hand complexity is also becoming an issue since R&D tasks are getting more and more complex, and in case a company has its own complex structures it generates so many interfaces and obstacles that projects where a lot of units are involved are delayed. Thus companies having explicit organizations and clearly assigned responsibilities are quicker in their internal work and therefore have more resources and capabilities for all kinds of interaction with other parties.

Currently, everybody talks about autonomous driving and derived from this the question pops up: Are autonomous developments achievable? Probably not in the near future, but at least digitalization will strongly support R&D work.