The Appraisal – Does a charity have a role in biotech and pharma innovation?

A recent report from Deloitte has shed new light on the staggering cost of developing new drugs – an expense that now exceeds $2 billion per therapy on average. It’s a cost only matched by the huge risk in undertaking the research and development needed to get a drug or intervention to market. So, is the ‘innovation economy’ of drug discovery sustainable? What can – perhaps should – be done about this? And does a charity like CRUK have a role here? Time to get some perspective on all this from Iain…