SmarTrend has named Columbia Labs the most efficient pharmaceutical company. Details of the top five follow. Note the irony that the most efficient companies are in the R&D business, currently a prime target of pharma efficiency-improvement efforts. Note also the implied benefit of contract manufacturing to these winners, and their use of partnering in general.
Columbia Labs is a developer of treatments for women's reproductive conditions and a specialist in drug delivery. Its efficiency, based on revenue per employee, is $2.32 million. Analysts use RPE to compare the productivity of companies within an industry, reports SmarTrend.
The R&D company earned its efficiency rating by sticking to its knitting. It entered into partnerships for the commercialization of its products and sold its assets to Watson Pharmaceuticals after eight years, according to the company website. "We are now a focused drug development company that enjoys ongoing royalties from our marketing partners."
Coming in a close second in the SmarTrend ranking with $2.28 million is Pozen, which says in a statement that its philosophy is "to own core capabilities and strategically partner for the rest." Pozen is followed by Depomed ($2.12 million), a specialty pharma company with drug delivery expertise whose strategy is to develop and "play an active role" in commercializing its AcuForm-enhanced formulations of oral drugs; specialty pharma Viropharma ($2.05 million); and Pain Therapeutics ($1.42 million).
- see the SmarTrend item
- here's the Pozen release