New research paper shows that AstraZeneca has achieved greater than four-fold improvement in R&D productivity

In a research paper published today by Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, AstraZeneca's IMED Biotech Unit documents a more than four-fold improvement in R&D productivity following significant revision of its approach and adoption of a '5R framework' - right target, right patient, right tissue, right safety, right commercial potential. The publication explains how adoption of the research unit's 5R framework has guided successful, efficient drug discovery and development whilst financial investment in R&D has remained unchanged. It shows that the research unit’s success rate in discovering new compounds, which then progress through the pipeline to completion of Phase III clinical trials, has increased from 4% in the period 2005-2010 to 19% in the period 2012-2016 based on the 5R framework.