Tannista Banerjee

Effect of research and development outsourcing on new drug approvals in the pharmaceutical industry

This paper studies the relationship between the outsourcing of research and development activities in the pharmaceutical industry and the approval of new drug applications by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Is it the wage premium that targets worker turnovers

ABSTRACT The literature on FDI shows that there exists a wage premium that multinational enterprises (MNEs) pay to local workers and link this to a technology spillover argument. The MNEs pay higher wages to prevent worker turnovers and technology leakages. Literature relates the wage premium aspect of FDI using worker mobility data and uses worker turnovers and the technology spillover argument. We relate stock options in the FDI context of worker mobility and find in a simplified framework that the turnover of workers would depend on the relative payments of stock options.

Believe it or not: Health education works

This study tested the effectiveness of a targeted intervention in the form of healthy food consumption education and discount coupons for healthy food. A field experiment was used to implement healthy food consumption education among low-income families in Alabama. In collaboration with the Sylacauga Alliance for Family Enhancement (SAFE), two grocery stores serving low-income families, interventions such as food consumption education and discount coupons for healthy food were tested. Results show that access to healthy food and education about healthy food consumption encouraged low-income families to purchase healthier food.

Why trash don’t pass? pharmaceutical licensing and safety performance of drugs

This paper examines how asymmetric information in pharmaceutical licensing affects the safety standards of licensed drugs. Pharmaceutical companies often license potential drug molecules at different stages of drug development from other pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies and complete the remaining of research stages before submitting the new drug application(NDA) to the food and drug administration. The asymmetric information associated with the quality of licensed molecules might result in the molecules which are less likely to succeed to be licensed out, while those with greater potential of success being held internally for development. We identify the NDAs submitted between 1993 and 2004 where new molecular entities were acquired through licensing. Controlling for other drug area specific and applicant firm specific factors, we investigate whether drugs developed with licensed molecules face higher probability of safety based recall and ultimate withdrawal from the market than drugs developed internally. Results suggest the opposite of Akerlof’s (Q J Econ 84:488–500, 1970) lemons problem. Licensed molecules rather have less probability of facing safety based recalls and ultimate withdrawal from the market comparing to internally developed drug molecules. This suggests that biotechnology and small pharmaceutical firms specializing in pharmaceutical research are more efficient in developing good potential molecules because of their concentrated research. Biotechnology firms license out good potential molecules because it increases their market value and reputation. In addition, results suggest that both the number of previous approved drugs in the disease area, and also the applicant firms’ total number of previous approvals in all disease areas reduce the probability that an additional approved drug in the same drug area will potentially be harmful.

Effects of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights on the research and development expenditure of Indian pharmaceutical industry

This article investigates the factors that affect the research and development (R&D) expenditure of Indian pharmaceutical industry before and after the introduction of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights, January 1995.