New perspectives for better R&D performance: lessons learned from leading pharma companies

• The top 20 pharmaceutical companies launched 237 new drugs between 2011 and 2022. • Of these, 56% originated externally, 8% were co-invented with partners, and 36% were developed internally. • Four distinct R&D models emerged: internally driven, externally focused, hybrid, and multi-sourced. • Internally and collaboratively discovered drugs demonstrated greater commercial success compared with acquired drugs. The research and development (R&D) productivity of pharmaceutical companies has been widely studied and analyzed for many years in both academia and industry, and pharmaceutical companies have launched various initiatives to improve their R&D efficiency, such as by opening R&D toward external innovation, improved decision-making, or better clinical trial management. However, these efforts are based primarily on an inward-looking organizational perspective and have so far not benchmarked new drugs invented internally and those acquired from external sources. Here, we analyze new drugs approved between 2011 and 2022 developed by the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, differentiating between internal and external innovation, with a particular focus on internally invented new drugs. Based on our analysis, we provide deep insights into the R&D strategies of the leading companies and draw conclusions about how companies could further improve their R&D performance.