Ph.D. Dissertation Defense

Vitor Kamada

Title: Innovation in the Biopharmaceutical Industry

Abstract:

Three aspects of the drug development process are little understood in the literature: 1) which type of organization has comparative advantage in conducting clinical trials, firms or nonprofit organization (NPOs)?; 2) what determines the timing of technological collaboration, a step usually far away from drug commercialization?; and 3) how the strategies making, allying, and buying R&D impact the probability of drug approval? Using data on over 20,000 clinical trials, 800 technological alliances, and 14,000 R&D projects, the main findings of this econometric study are: 1) firms complete each phase of clinical trial faster than nonprofit organizations; 2) licensor scientific and technological specialization is the main factor to speed up the technological collaboration; and 3) R&D projects developed by research alliance have higher probability of drug approval than internal R&D projects, but R&D projects originated from M&A have lower probability of drug approval than internal R&D projects. Together these findings inform policy makers and managers on how to foster the innovation performance in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Committee:

Dr. Usha Nair-Reichert, Chair, Advisor, School of Economics -Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Levent Kutlu, School of Economics -Georgia Institute of Technology / Antalya International University

Dr. Patrick S. McCarthy, School of Economics -Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Mikhail Klimenko, School of Economics -Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr.  Richard Barke, School of Public Policy -Georgia Institute of Technology

Date/Time:

Wednesday, April 26, 2017, 2:00 to 3:30 pm.

Location:

Old CE Building, Room 204.