Novartis: Layoffs as a Sign of Productivity Crisis in R&D; The CBCD Offers New Technology to Aid in Drug Discovery
Rochester, NY (PRWEB) November 11, 2013 -- Up to 371 individuals’ jobs are at risk at a pharmaceutical site in the UK (1). The possible, planned layoffs may put R&D personnel and contractors at Novartis West Sussex facility out of work (1). The CBCD believes that these potential layoffs by Novartis may be an example of another pharmaceutical company suffering from an industry wide problem.
That problem is the productivity crisis in pharmaceutical R&D.
The CBCD believes that this crisis is the underlying cause of the planned layoffs. As BBC News reported, “The firm said the (potentially planned layoffs) are a result of a ‘global review’ of its research operations. The jobs of 72 marketing and sales support staff in Frimley, Surrey, are also at risk. The firm said it was proposing to withdraw marketing and sales support for its diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease products in the UK (1).”
Although Novartis is known for its strong drug pipeline, the CBCD believes that these possible layoffs may be a direct result of the productivity crisis in pharmaceutical R&D, which may finally have hit the pharmaceutical company. As an article published on November 5, 2013 in the industrial daily, FierceBiotech.com reported “The pharma giant hammered the British community two years ago when it eliminated a major manufacturing operation in Horsham. But the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research had committed to keeping its research work going and last fall discussed a major upgrade for the site. Today, though, it confirmed that it will shutter the complex, where investigators concentrated on respiratory programs (2).”
Further evidence is the fact that the company is considering a global restructuring of its entire R&D program. “The move signals a wider "realignment" of (Novartis’) R&D worldwide (2).”
The FiercePharma article continued saying, “There's no immediate word from Novartis on what it intends to do with its huge global R&D effort, which consumes more than $9 billion a year. Novartis has long held the title for the largest R&D budget in the industry…most of the Big Pharmas have triggered some sort of R&D reorganization over the past few years, though Novartis was always one of the few exceptions to the rule (2).”
The CBCD believes that the proposed layoffs and restructuring of Novartis’ global R&D efforts are a direct result of the challenges they face in R&D, and would like to offer to Novartis and other pharmaceutical companies, a new technology to overcome R&D challenges. This technology is called ‘Computer Intuition.’
What is ‘Computer Intuition?’
‘Computer Intuition’ is a psycholinguistic-based data-mining program that analyzes scientific text and helps scientists discover new therapeutic features of chemical entities.
In September 2013, the medical journal Pharmacology & Pharmacy, in a special edition on Advances in Antiviral Drugs, published a clinical study, which showed that the dietary supplement Gene-Eden-VIR is safe and effective. Gene-Eden-VIR was developed using ‘Computer Intuition.’ The results of this clinical study show that ‘Computer Intuition’ can predict clinical results.
“In 1996…a prototype of a psycholinguistic-based data-mining program that analyzes scientific text and assigns a rating to all ideas found in the text” was completed (3). “The higher the rating, the more (‘Computer Intuition’) hints at future events (3).”
“The following is a description of one prospective application of Computer Intuition. In 1995, Frederiksen published a paper entitled: Diagnostic Imaging in Dental Implantology. At the time, Frederiksen was one of the world leading experts on the subject. To test the pre-dictive power of the Computer Intuition analysis, Almog and Heisler from the University of Rochester devised a test. They conducted a Medline search for papers published between 1980 and 1996 using keywords relevant to the subject of diagnostics, imaging, and dental implantology. The search identified 34 papers. The content of these papers was analyzed with Computer Intuition. The analysis produced three ideas. Two ideas were identical to the main conclusions described in Frederik-sen’s paper. This, by itself, was an impressive achievement. By using Computer Intuition, Almog and Heisler duplicated the results of a world leading expert quickly and inexpensively. However, while it took Frederiksen decades to build his expertise, Almog and Heisler acquired similar expertise within weeks (3).”
The authors of the study went on to note that the third idea suggested by Computer Intuition was a new technology. “This technology was not mentioned in Frederiksen’s paper. The three ideas were published in 1997. How predictive was the Computer Intuition analysis? In 2006, Almog, Frederiksen, and four colleagues, published a survey of the academic and commercial field of diagnostic imaging in oral implantology. In their paper, they reported an interesting observation. Beginning in 2000, three years after the publication of the Computer Intuition paper, ‘numerous companies from technology-transfer and commercial standpoint have introduced technology platforms that offer planning and guidance systems to facilitate dental implant placement procedures’, the same technology proposed by the third idea three years earlier (3).”
The CBCD invites pharmaceutical executives to contact the Center to learn more about ‘Computer Intuition’ and how this forward thinking technology can help provide higher returns on investment, and be implemented as part of their R&D efforts.
We invite the media to contact us for interviews at: info (at)buy-gene-eden(dot)com or phone 585-250-9999.
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References:
(1) Jobs at risk at pharmaceutical firm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24822236
(2) Novartis to chop 371 jobs, shutter research center in global R&D shakeup
http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/novartis-chopping-371-research-jobs-global-rd-reorganization/2013-11-05
(3) Gene-Eden-VIR Is Antiviral: Results of a Post Marketing Clinical Study
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=36101
The Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease (CBCD, http://www.cbcd.net) is a research center recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-for-profit organization. The mission of the CBCD is to advance the research on the biology of chronic diseases, and to accelerate the discovery of treatments.
The CBCD published the “Purple” book by Dr. Hanan Polansky. The book presents Dr. Polansky’s highly acclaimed scientific theory on the relationship between foreign DNA and the onset of chronic diseases. Dr. Polansky’s book is available as a free download from the CBCD website.
Hanan Polansky, Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease (CBCD), +1 (585) 250-9999, [email protected]
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