Novartis cuts 20% of drug-research projects after review

Novartis has cut roughly 20% of its research projects, reducing its drug programs to 340 from 430, after completing a review of its portfolio to narrow its focus on cutting-edge medicines, Bloomberg reports, citing Jay Bradner, president of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. Among the research projects the company is no longer pursuing are medicines for infectious diseases and Bradner said, “The sadness about these 90 projects is there’s some great science there. These are not bad ideas. Many of them have momentum, but they either are not likely to be transformative for patients, or are ill-suited to the focused business ambitions of Novartis…Society should expect Novartis to bring forward truly impactful, truly differentiated, truly important medicines for patients with life-threatening diseases.
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