The roles of academia, rare diseases, and repurposing in the development of the most transformative drugs

Transformative drugs, defined as pharmaceuticals that are both innovative and have groundbreaking effects on patient care, are the "holy grail" of drug research and development. The sources of drug innovation are often debated, with pharmaceutical manufacturers arguing that high drug prices support innovative output from their sector. We studied the developmental histories of twenty-six drugs or drug classes approved by the Food and Drug Administration between 1984 and 2009 that were judged by expert physicians to be transformative (in two cases, the first drug in a transformative class was approved before 1984). Most of the twenty-six were first approved early in the study period; only four were approved in 2000 or later. Many were based on discoveries made by academic researchers who were supported by federal government funding. Others were jointly developed in both publicly funded and commercial institutions; the fewest number of drugs had originated solely within pharmaceutical industry research programs. Nine of the twenty-six (35 percent) were repurposed from products developed for other indications, and ten (38 percent) were developed for rare diseases before much broader applicability was found. The insights from these case studies provide an experience-based foundation for policies to encourage the development of future transformative drugs.