Lilly and 1747 have announced a strategic alliance.
Eli Lilly and 1747, a direct-to-participant online clinical trials specialist, have formed a strategic relationship. Lilly will use 1747’s products to conduct trials, while its e.Lilly VC fund will make an undisclosed equity investment in 1747. The company will use the investment to develop its clinical trials platform and system further, and to help accelerate and expand its commercialization.
1747’s clinical trial system automates clinical trials procedures, including recruitment, consent, closeout and analysis. Participants are randomized online to receive a treatment or a placebo, and study treatments are delivered to their homes. After completion of the study, each participant will be given individual results. Lilly believes that this platform will make recruitment easier, cut data entry costs, speed trials up, and make them more accurate by putting them in a more ‘real life’ setting.
Clinical trials are the most costly and time-consuming element of drug discovery and development: 28.3% of all R&D investment is spent on clinical evaluations. Datamonitor has also calculated that the cost of bringing a new molecular entity to market has risen from $184 million in 1986 to $853 million in 2000. Pharmaceutical companies need to streamline and speed up overall R&D if they are to drive down costs.
Speeding trials up, and hence launching drugs onto markets earlier, benefits pharma companies. It increases the useful patent life of a product, thus increasing the potential sales revenue of a drug and driving up the return on R&D investment.
Datamonitor surveys have found that the major immediate pharmaceutical eBusiness priorities are in sales and marketing. However, R&D and the processes involved in drug discovery, development and approval remain critical to developing an integrated eBusiness strategy across the pharmaceutical value chain.
Lilly’s equity stake in 1747 signals the long-term importance of this strategy to Lilly’s overall business. And while Lilly will benefit in numerous ways, 1747 will also gain, through Lilly’s cash injection, as well as the big company’s healthcare and clinical trial experience.
