Innovations or inventions have many mothering factors. One of the major enticing factor is profitable societal and unmet needs. There are also altruism and noble causes driven by the optimism in scientific discovery. Societal needs and the quest for profitable pharmaceutical medicinal products’ inventions may not be inseparable. Within the pharmaceutical product development portfolio, there are genuine intents in developing medicinal products based on the societal needs. However, the technology’s future profit forecast may drive the rest of the product management (Whitmore, 2004).

All pharmaceutical companies desire the first entry in the market-place in the area of research of interest, but in reality the acquisition costs of new and untested investigational medicinal products is a high risk most company will not take very lightly, should the product not approved by regulatory agencies. Hence, scientific discovery is a random and systematic selective gamble process with new investigational products, which may or may not lead scientists and product development teams anywhere close to the market. However, a better way to decipher which random product to move forward is via sound scientific methods and the use modern technology and computer modeling, yet not ideal or perfect method either. However, the risk is lower.

For most pharmaceutical industries, it is not a good business model investing in a product benefiting only a very small portion of the market. Perhaps, they tend to broaden their scope to a bigger and larger portion of the market (Angell, 2004). Therefore, to encourage scientific innovation in rare diseases or conditions, the US, for example, initiated the Orphan Act incentives. The act allows tax breaks and extensions of market exclusivity to a pioneer company with new medicinal products for a rare disease or condition. For instance, in the United stated, without the “Orphan Drug Act” which funds and encourages rare diseases affecting less than 200,000 patients, most pharmaceutical industries have no interest in pursuing any research in the field or rare conditions.

Any quality scientific research or product within a larger market or predominant diseases/conditions are always very profitable and easily move forward in product development. However, there is no doubt, societal needs drive innovation but not in the expense of huge profit recovery (Ng, 2009). On the other hand, persistence in scientific discovery may drive some aspect of scientific innovation. A factor, which is evident with the discovery of Herceptin, a HER-2 type cancer therapy. Among all odds, Her-2 researchers and the public were strong, persistent and dedicated to supporting the concept and the product through product-development, and eventually in the market. Currently, Herceptin is known as one of the best cancer drugs in the market for a Her-2 initiated cancer.

References

Angell, M. (2004). The Truth About the Drug Companies. Retrieve from http://www.nybooks .com/articles/archives/2004/jul/15/the-truth-about-the-drug-companies/?pagination=false.

NG. R. (2009). Drugs: From discovery to approval (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

Whitmore, E (2004). Development of FDA-regulated medical products: Prescription drugs, biologics, and medical devices. Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press.