Research and Development Review 2016 l Pharma Intelligence

New Active Substances launched during 2015

Following on from our review of trends in the current pharmaceutical R&D pipeline, published in early February 2016, this supplement takes a look at the industry’s success stories of 2015 – the drugs which were launched on to the market for the first time during the year. Our survey focuses exclusively on new active substances (NASs): new chemical or biological entities where the active ingredient had received no prior approval for human use. As such, this list represents a subset of all the first launches which Citeline reported during 2015, excluding the 68 new drug launches with reformulated or non-NAS moieties, or biosimilars.

This year, our 2016 Pharma R&D Report showed the cast list of drugs in pharma R&D to be growing at an ever increasing rate. But is pharma’s equivalent of the Hollywood hit factory creating enough bona fide new stars? And of those who did make it, which are likely to be nominated for Best Newcomer awards? Is the industry basking in the golden spotlight of success, or flailing in a self-deluded bubble? Roll opening titles…