Breaking Barriers, Saving Lives: The Case for Small Company–Big Pharma Collaboration
Scientific breakthroughs rarely come from the predictable or the bureaucratic. In pharmaceuticals, it’s the entrepreneurial small companies—those with vision, agility, and relentless drive-that dare to ask, “what if?” and push boundaries. Yet, for all their ingenuity, these innovators face an uphill battle in turning promising ideas into therapies that reach patients worldwide. The answer lies in partnership: a genuine, two-way collaboration between small innovators and the industry’s largest players.
Why Small Companies Drive Innovation
Small pharma companies now account for 63% of new prescription drug approvals in the past five years. This is no accident. These companies thrive because they are unencumbered by the bureaucracy that slows larger organizations. Nimble, focused, and deeply passionate about solving specific scientific challenges, their teams may be small, but their ambitions are vast.
Small pharma’s edge is its entrepreneurial spirit. These companies take risks on unproven science, pursue therapies for rare diseases, and explore new modalities that big pharma might consider too speculative. Their size lets them pivot quickly, adapt to new data, and champion bold ideas that might get lost in a larger organization.
Too often, however, venture capitalists (VCs) promise support but end up sidelining founders, taking control, and selling the vision to big pharma with little regard for the original innovators. This dynamic leaves founders-and patients-shortchanged. Instead, big pharma should step in directly, partnering with small companies to make breakthroughs a reality for all stakeholders, especially patients. George S. Golumbeski, Ph.D., former Executive Vice President of Business Development at Celgene, coined the phrase “Build to Buy.” In this model, big pharma provides incremental funding, allowing products to develop until they’re ready for licensing or acquisition. This attitude—supporting innovation without stifling it-needs to return to the forefront.
The Essential Role of Big Pharma
Big pharma brings what small companies cannot: financial muscle, regulatory expertise, and global infrastructure. They have the resources to run large-scale clinical trials, meet stringent regulatory standards, and ensure new medicines reach patients worldwide. Without this support, even the most promising innovations risk stalling before they can make an impact.
The Symbiotic Relationship
The most significant advances in therapeutics increasingly result from partnership. Small companies bring dreams and drive; big pharma brings resources and reach. Together, they achieve what neither could alone. The same thing goes for cures: it will never be just one drug to cure a disease, it will be a cocktail, a collaboration of mechanisms that result in cures and big pharma must see partnering with small companies the same way.
What’s Missing: The Human Element-and the Decision-Making Gap
Despite the clear benefits, forging these partnerships is often frustrating for small companies. Many big pharma firms have “partnering” portals on their websites, but submissions often disappear into a void, never acknowledged or discussed. This lack of basic courtesy and open communication isn’t just discourteous-it’s a missed opportunity for the entire industry.
The challenge I’ve learned goes deeper. I was told that big pharma reflects two sides of the balance sheet: the business side and the R&D side. The problem is that until a product is FDA-cleared, it remains under the R&D side’s purview, not the business side. Here, two attitudinal obstacles arise. First, R&D teams often favor their own pet projects when allocating funds. Second, there’s the “Not Invented Here” (NIH) syndrome-a reluctance to embrace innovations that originated outside their own labs. When business leaders defer to R&D for partnership decisions, it’s easier for R&D to say “no” than to champion external innovation. To break this cycle, pharma companies must make partnership decisions based on business merit, then empower R&D with the resources and enthusiasm to develop these innovations as their own.
Having worked as an entrepreneur across multiple industries, I’ve seen how much more responsive and collaborative other sectors can be. In pharma, a little initiative and mutual respect could go a long way. Imagine an industry where every submission from a small company received a thoughtful reply, where dialogue replaced silence, and where both sides recognized each other’s value. This isn’t just wishful thinking—it’s necessary if we are to unlock the full potential of scientific innovation.
Building Stronger Partnerships
How do we get there? The foundation of any successful partnership is trust and transparency. Both sides must be open about their goals, capabilities, and limitations. Aligning with a shared vision creates a unified strategy and purpose.
Effective collaboration means leveraging each partner’s strengths. Small companies excel at discovery and early-stage science, big pharma shines in development, regulatory navigation, and commercialization. By combining these strengths, both sides can achieve far more than they could alone.
There are challenges-cultural differences, intellectual property concerns, and the need for clear, fair agreements. But these are not insurmountable. With open communication, mutual respect, and a willingness to share risks and rewards, partnerships can flourish.
The Future: A New Model for Innovation
The future of drug development will not be defined by the lone genius or the monolithic corporation, but by the synergy between the two. As the industry evolves, the most successful companies will be those that embrace partnership—not just as a business strategy, but as a mindset.
Big pharma’s greatest asset is no longer just its capital or salesforce, but its ability to enable and amplify grassroots innovation. Small companies must persist in their pursuit of breakthrough science, seeking partners who can help bring their visions to life. For the sake of patients and the future of medicine—we must do better. We need an industry where entrepreneurial spirit and global scale work hand in hand, where every promising idea has a chance to make a difference, and where partnership is not just a buzzword, but a way of life.
About the Author
Randi Altschul is CEO of Pop Test/Palisades Therapeutics, an award-winning entrepreneur recognized by Frost & Sullivan. With a global track record in product innovation and licensing across industries, she is dedicated to translating scientific discoveries into real-world healthcare solutions. Randi@PopTestLLC.com www.PalisadesTherapeutics.com
