Diagnosing the drug R&D productivity decline with Dr Jack Scannell

The DeSci Podcast

In this episode, we discuss the problem of declining R&D efficiency with Dr. Jack Scannell, a scientist and entrepreneur who is well known for coining the term “Eroom’s law,” which highlights the decline in pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) productivity over several decades.

In this episode, Jack sheds light on the root causes of this decline, beginning with a critique of the poor quality of diagnosis surrounding the R&D productivity problem.

He also talks about the challenges in accurately measuring progress in drug research, highlighting the "measurement problem" in the drug industry. Jack suggests adopting a model akin to the "Stern Review” to improve the diagnosis of these challenges.

Jack also addresses topics such as the shift in the frequency of serendipitous drug discoveries, the Eroom’s law article, the entanglement of science, money and drug development and many more.

Feel free to navigate through any of the topics discussed in the Podcast using the timestamps below.

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⭐ Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

01:40 Poor quality of diagnosis of the R&D productivity problem

04:01 The measurement problem

09:21 Chesterton’s fence of R&D

14:38 Science, Drug development, Money.

20:46 The role of Serendipity in drug discovery

26:34 Economics in the drug industry.

34:43 Implicit knowledge within Biotech

41:43 Eroom's Law paper

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Special thanks to

Lea Degen: https://twitter.com/lealeata

Jack Scannell: https://twitter.com/JackScannell13

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