J&J CEO Bill Weldon (photo) has done the math on drug discovery and his bottom line is that it's a lot cheaper and less risky to ink partnership deals than try and do discovery on its own.
"The cost of developing compounds has become so high and become so risky that we are looking to share the risks and opportunities and find more and more partnerships," Weldon tells the Financial Times. And in a post-reform world, partnerships will only become even more important for drug companies like J&J. "You'll see more and more sharing of risks because the upside can be spectacular."
J&J has been on a deal spree recently. It's invested in Elan as well as Crucell and recently completed an alliance with Gilead on a new HIV therapy.
- here's the report from the Financial Times