Converging scientific fields and new technological paradigms as main drivers of the division of scientific labour in drug discovery process: the effects on strategic management of the R&D corporate change

Abstract

The thesis of this study is that the convergence of genetics, genomics and proteomics spurs new technological paradigms in medicine, which are generating a R&D corporate change: division of scientific labour of the drug discovery process by strategic alliances among firms in order to reinforce the integrative capabilities in different biomedical research fields and collective and cumulative learning between in-house R&D and external sources of innovation. This study shows, by key a case study of pharmaceutical companies, as scientific and technological paradigms in medicine are main drivers of industrial and R&D corporate change to enhance and accelerate the discovery process of ground-breaking drugs for more and more personalised healthcare.

Keywords:

• technological paradigm
• division of labour
• learning process
• corporate change
• strategic change
• R&D function
• molecular biology
• targeted therapy
• clinical research
• personalised healthcare

Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge financial support from the CNR – National Research Council of Italy for my research visits to Yale University in 2011 and Georgia Institute of Technology in 2012, where this research started, and to the University of Strasbourg (BETA), University of Toronto and UNU-MERIT in 2013. The usual disclaimer holds, however.

Notes on contributor

Mario Coccia is an economist at the National Research Council of Italy and visiting professor of Industrial Organization and Economics of Innovation at the University of Piemonte Orientale (Italy). He has been research fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Economics and visiting professor at the Polytechnics of Torino. He has conducted research work at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Yale University, UNU-Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (United Nations University-MERIT), University of Maryland (College Park), Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée (University of Strasbourg), Munk School of Global Affairs (University of Toronto), and Institute for Science and Technology Studies (University of Bielefeld). He has written extensively on Economics of Innovation and Management of Technology; his research publications include more than 250 papers in several disciplines.

Notes

1. Genetics studies the molecular structure and function of genes in the context of a cell or organism.

2. Genomics is a discipline in genetics that studies the genomes of organisms. In particular, it determines the entire DNA sequence of organisms and fine-scale genetic mapping efforts.

3. The proteomics is the systematic analysis of protein profiles of tissues and parallels the related field of genomics.

4. “‘model” and “pattern” of solution of selected technological problems, based on selected principles derived from the natural science and on selected material technologies’ (Dosi 1982, 152, original emphasis, cf. also Dosi 1988).

5. See also Coccia (2010a, 2011, 2012a,d,e, 2013), Coccia and Finardi (2012), Amir-Aslani and Mangematin (2010), Mathieu and Van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie (2010), Sabatier, Craig-Kennard and Mangematin (2012) and Heimeriksand Leydesdorff (2012); cf. also Coccia (2012b) for ground-breaking innovations of tissue engineering for cartilage disorders.

6. Pharmacogenetics describes the influence of genes on the efficacy and side effects of drugs; studies interactions between drugs and the genome; investigates the uptake, conversion and breakdown of drugs in the body over time; and deals with the influence of genes on the interactions between drugs and their molecular targets.

7. ‘Strategic change involves an attempt to change the current modes of cognition and action to enable an organisation to take advantage of important opportunities or to cope with consequential environmental threats’ (Gioia and Chittipeddi1991, 433; cf. Coccia 2008b).

8. In terms of set theory, the area of interaction that supports fruitful radical innovations in medicine is given by: genetics ∩ genomics ∩ proteomics.

9. A biomarker is: “‘A characteristic that is objectively measured and evaluated as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to therapeutic intervention”’ (National Institute of Health). Cf. Amir-Aslani and Mangematin (2010, 204).

10. ‘The interplay between basic laboratory science and exploratory clinical research. It encompasses preclinical investigations of the biological effects of therapeutics as well as clinical investigations aimed at enhanced understanding of disease biology’ (as defined by Roche 2012; cf. also Gershon 1998).

11. RNA interference (RNAi) is a process within living cells that moderates the activity of their genes. Note that the Cancer Genome Anatomy Project leads some initiatives to support and promote the advancement of RNAi technologies and tools.

12. Compare with Guan and Zhao (2013) for the impact of university–industry collaboration networks on innovation in nanobiopharmaceuticals.

13. External cooperation is also the major driver of innovation in the hospital sector that generates a context of the open nature of innovation (Dias and Escoval 2012).

14. See Coccia (2008a, 2005c, 2004, 2001) for accurate analyses on public R&D units.