Inside External R&D At AstraZeneca

Abstract

The words “big pharma” conjure up big research infrastructure. But one of the biggest drug companies, AstraZeneca, recently decided to move nearly every aspect of neuroscience R&D outside its own walls. The scientists charged with managing the new network of drug discovery partners say the approach has brought swift access to breaking science, the freedom to rethink the fundamentals of drug discovery, and, most important, relief from the risks posed by heavy internal investment. The virtual neuroscience unit, known in-house as the neuroscience innovative medicines unit, or neuroscience iMed, was born in February 2012, when AstraZeneca unleashed massive job cuts across its R&D operations. It wielded the heaviest ax against its neuroscience unit, closing a research facility in Montreal and ending R&D in Sodertalje, Sweden. The moves wiped out internal neuroscience research in favor of a strategy of building a new drug pipeline through partnerships. The neuroscience research staff was ...