Principais obstáculos que dificultam a inovação em instituições públicas da área farmacêutica no Brasil

Abstract

Innovation in pharmaceutical industry means to discover something new with therapeutic properties. It is a fundamental demand of organizations to achieve success in the market, as it represents a competitive advantage. In general, many factors stand in the way of innovating companies, universities and research institutes. When we talk about the public sector, there are many challenges. This article aims at presenting some of the main obstacles faced by the Brazilian public pharmaceutical institutions negatively contributing to innovation: difficulties related to infrastructure; funding and purchasing processes; discrepancies between the pharmaceutical industry institutional goals and the Ministry of Health’s demands; the need to introduce quality requirements in early stages of research; and the focus on technology transfer processes as the only source for innovation. Challenges are many, but with mood and motivation, both by the involved professionals and by the Brazilian government - which must show willingness to seek strategies to modify the current scenario -, it will be possible to reach an innovation culture in Brazil.