Glaxo Scientists 慙ive or Diein Research Overhaul
By Albertina Torsoli - Nov 30, 2011 12:53 AM CT
Six months ago, Roberto Solari talked eagerly about his research into the
mechanisms that govern asthma. Now he must let someone else finish the job.
Solari, who until last month headed one of GlaxoSmithKline Plc (SAN)抯
targeted research units, is one of the casualties of the company抯 new
approach to drug discovery.
Glaxo is conducting one of the industry抯 boldest experiments, changing the
way it looks for new medicines to emulate biotech companies and spur
innovation. The U.K.抯 largest drugmaker has broken up research into
competitive teams and put scientists back at the center of the process. But
freedom carries a price: researchers who don抰 adapt must go.
Talent was 揵uried in the oceanunder the old system, says Moncef Slaoui,
Glaxo抯 head of research and development and one of the architects of the
overhaul. Scientists now 搇ive or die with their project.
This month, London-based Glaxo completed the first appraisal of its new
model. The company is now deciding which teams deserve more funding and
which ones don抰. The conclusions will probably be made public in February
when Glaxo reports full-year earnings, according to Janet Morgan, a
spokeswoman.
The transformation, three years in the making, is Glaxo抯 response to the
biggest challenge facing pharmaceutical companies: a lack of innovation,
which has curbed growth and forced mergers such as Pfizer Inc.抯 $68 billion
purchase of rival Wyeth in 2009.
Sink or Swim
揈veryone in the industry is watching,said Navid Malik, an analyst with
Merchant Securities Ltd. in London. 揑t抯 the most dramatic R&D
reorganization out there.
Chief Executive Officer Andrew Witty turned up the dial on an overhaul
initiated by his predecessor after he took over in 2008, dividing six
disease-focused research centers into smaller teams known as Discovery
Performance Units.
The teams, or DPUs, compete for funds bestowed every three years after a
review. Those that fail to meet their targets may get disbanded.
Solari, an unassuming 55-year-old scientist of Italian origin, is still
working at the company and no longer heads the team, Morgan said. She
declined to comment on the reasons for the change. So did Solari.
The biologist has left Glaxo once. He walked away in 1999, turned off by an
industrialized approach to research he felt stifled creativity. He returned
in 2007 after Glaxo had gone through the first step of its overhaul,
intrigued by the company抯 attempt to empower scientists.
慣o Bed With a Project
揑f I thought I was coming back to a sausage factory, I wouldn抰 have,
Solari said in an interview in May, before he found out he would lose his
position. 揑 love drug discovery. In the past in big pharma we haven抰 had
that degree of focus.He declined to be interviewed again after the change.
After the DPUs were born, some scientists went from working on 10 projects
to just managing one or two, according to Slaoui. Solari oversaw 120
employees before the change and 35 after.
Researchers 搘ake up in the morning and go to bedwith their project,
Slaoui said in an interview on April 6, speaking from inside the glass
compound that houses Glaxo抯 headquarters on the outskirts of London. Most
揼rew up as leaders in a remarkable waywhile some struggled, he says.
Glaxo has gained 10 percent in the past year. That compares with a 1.4
percent increase for the Bloomberg index that tracks the performance of 17
European drugmakers.
Dave Allen, who joined Glaxo in 1981 and oversees six DPUs, says the
reorganization meant taking the drugmaker抯 corporate structure, reminiscent
of a triangle, and turning it on its head, meaning the focus shifted from a
few people at the top to the many scientists who populated the pyramid抯
bottom.
Biggest Machine, Biggest Hammer
揑nstead of a centralized, command-and-control organization, which is what
big pharmas were -- the more senior you were in your job title, the more
people you controlled -- we抳e tried to return to something that says the
unit that discovers the drug is the important thing,he said.
Allen says he remembers discussions dating as far back as the early 2000s
with former Glaxo R&D head Tachi Yamada and Slaoui, who succeeded him in
2006, on the importance of scientists in the drug-discovery process.
The old Glaxo 搘as arrogant,says Robin Carr, who heads a DPU looking at
ways to treat lung damage. 揑t had the biggest machine and the biggest
hammer and it (thought it) could just grind out success.
Best of Both Worlds
A dearth of new medicines is putting the industry under pressure. The
average value of new drugs approved in the last five years fell 25 percent
from the previous five-year period, analysts at EvaluatePharma Ltd. estimate
. Drugmakers face loss of exclusivity on products with more than $170
billion of sales through 2016, according to Bloomberg Industries research.
Next year should see the greatest impact, with drugs having almost $50
billion in revenue potentially facing competition.
Three years into the experiment, insiders say some things have clearly
changed. With less time and fewer resources at hand, research teams have cut
the time between when a drug candidate is picked and the first clinical
tests. They also rely less on animals, opting to use human tissue wherever
possible to avoid the surprises that sometimes come with switching species.
The new system 揼ives me a much better handle on exactly why we are
bothering to do a lot of the work we are doing,says Malcolm Begg, an
investigator scientist. Begg says what he likes best of his new life is the
fact that he knows everybody by name and needs 搉o help deskto get in
touch with other Glaxo researchers about his project.
The idea nurtured by Witty, Slaoui and Patrick Vallance, Glaxo抯 head of
medicines discovery and development, is to have the focus of a biotech
within the resources of a large company.
No Bear Pit
One challenge is to find the right balance between competition and
collaboration.
揥e need cross-pollination,says Alison Ford, a biology team leader at the
Allergic Inflammation DPU, Solari抯 former group. 揥e work for GSK, we don抰
want to put walls up.
Glaxo has been hunting for ways to encourage teams to cooperate, according
to Vallance. One example, he says, is to give credit for inventing a
molecule that gets picked up by another one of the company抯 38 DPUs.
揥e need to keep working on that because I think 38 silos is a disaster,he
said in a May 13 interview. 揑t抯 not what we got, it抯 not what I want. It
抯 not a sort of bear pit with everyone fighting each other.
Lung Alert
One way teams work together is in sharing the organs of dead people. Vikki
Barrett helps coordinate the use of human lung tissue among three DPUs once
the organs arrive in Stevenage, the sprawling fortress that houses part of
Glaxo抯 research a half-hour train ride from London.
Barrett, a senior scientist at the same unit as Ford, some days carries a 揵
ug phoneattached to her belt. The device can buzz anytime to alert her
that a lung has become available, even from across the Atlantic.
揑t rang at 5 a.m. this morning,Barrett says with a sigh. Decisions on
whether the organs meet the right criteria must be made quickly because the
tissue begins to die as soon as it抯 removed from a body. The lungs get
shipped over within 48 hours, most of them from the U.S., she says.
The DPU system 搘orks better for me,Barrett says. Before, 揑 had six
different things coming at me. Now I only have one and can concentrate on
that.
Rivals Poach
The new model is 揳n experimentbound to get adjusted over time, says
Slaoui. Some DPU heads changed even before the review.
揙ne or two we抳e stepped down, they didn抰 quite meet expectations,
Vallance said. 揙ne of them is doing a brilliant job in another capacity now
and may well find himself stepping back up again.
Rival drugmakers aren抰 waiting for the results. They抳e poached at least
one DPU head, Peter Lebowitz, according to Vallance. Lebowitz, whose DPU
studied cancer, is now at rival Johnson & Johnson. (JNJ) Another former DPU
head, Jinzi Wu, left to help found Ascletis, which looks into cancer and
infectious diseases.
揟here are other companies beginning to sniff around,says Vallance. 揤
enture capital firms are looking. It tells you you got something right.挃
One thing that may emerge from the review: even though some teams may die
others could be born, according to Vallance. Glaxo posted a message on its
internal network this year, urging anyone with a new idea for a DPU to come
forward.
揧our chance to influence the direction of discovery activities has arrived!
the message read. Glaxo said it received more than 50 responses good
enough to be considered.
慠ight Direction
CEO Witty is upbeat about the outlook for Glaxo抯 research. During an Oct.
26 conference call, he said the company 揾as the potential, depending on the
data flow available,to submit 10 new drugs to regulators by the end of
next year.
揟hat抯 a lot,says Merchant Securities抯 Malik. 揙f those 10, several
could be blockbusters. It shows clearly something is going in the right
direction.
Not everyone is convinced. Researchers deserve to be evaluated when their
product reaches a milestone, rather than at arbitrary times, given that new
drugs take about 10 years to develop, says Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, the
chief science officer for Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk A/S. (NOVOB)
揜&D doesn抰 work this way,Thomsen says. 揧ou have to make long-haul
choices on products and strategy, not abrupt decisions on how to allocate
funds.
Three years may not be enough to develop a new drug but it抯 揳 long-enough
time to judge whether something is on track to deliver,counters Vallance.
Good Review
He points to two early indicators of success: The number of experimental
treatments (GSK) developed within the company is lower, suggesting people
are now making tough decisions earlier in the process, and an internal
survey shows a drop in the number of researchers seeking jobs elsewhere.
Glaxo declined to give numbers or elaborate on the jobs survey.
Most DPU reviews began in June and July, when team managers faced a panel
that included Slaoui and Vallance and defended their achievements. Late last
month another round of meetings started, with DPU leaders seeking funding
and setting targets for the next three years.
Robin Carr, the DPU head and a friend of Solari抯 who persuaded him to
return in 2007 over a few pints of English bitter, says the first part of
his own review involved 揳 lot of debateon the targets achieved so far.
Slaoui, Vallance and the others 搆new quite a lot of what they were going to
hear already, they had tracked it, monitored it, made comments over the
last three years,Carr said in a telephone interview on July 27. The
meeting 搘ent very well.
Worried
Ford, Barrett and Begg were more apprehensive. 揟his is new for all of us,
Ford said. 揧ou are worried about everybody. That抯 the thing about the DPU.
You own it more, so you抮e worried about the future of your science.
All three scientists worked with Solari to develop drugs that change the way
asthma is treated by altering its course -- not damping symptoms. The DPU抯
work will carry on, Glaxo said.
When good drugs are discovered, 搕here is always some spark, some moment,
some individual who made that telling intellectual input, or someone who had
a great idea,Solari said. 揑ndividual intellects can really make a
difference, instead of just the big engine cranking out stuff.
