Merck explores new risks for biopharma with the EIU

New approaches for mitigating risk associated with new growth strategies.

"In response to the uncertainty and disruption facing the biopharmaceutical industry, Merck has moved beyond old risk-management models and has adopted and is applying new strategies at the earliest stages of development and seeing them through to commercialization," said Udit Batra, Member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science.

Study highlights include

48% of respondents are developing or will develop novel therapies, such as gene and cell therapies

Biopharmas anticipate entering South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan in the next 5 years

Regulatory uncertainty tops the list of risks that biopharma executives think might disrupt their company's strategy in the next 5 years (32%)

80% of respondents are highly optimistic about their company's ability to bring new drug products to market over the next 5 years

Manufacturers in the biopharma industry face unprecedented challenges as they enter unfamiliar geographies, aggressively replenish pipelines and expand into novel areas such as gene and cell therapies requiring more complex development and production. The EIU study, detailed in The Changing Biopharma Risk Equation, examines how new growth strategies are creating exposure to different types of risk and explores options for successfully navigating this unexplored territory.

Survey respondents offered a global view with 31% from Europe, 30% from North America, 29% from Asia and 10% from the rest of the world. Responses also reflect the differences in view depending on company size, with 50% of participants coming from biopharmas with less than $500 million in revenues and 50% from larger players.