Last week at the Drug Discovery and Technology Summit in London, Simon Campbell, Pfizer Europe’s former president of R&D, criticized “mega-pharmacies” for sucking the creativity and innovation out of the industry. “You can’t industrialize drug discovery,” said Campbell. “It’s a personal experience, not a mechanical process, and that needs to be appreciated.”

He goes on to warn that continuing down the current path could be disastrous. With declining pipelines and many blockbuster drugs soon to come off patents, Campbell said abandoning new compounds in early development for fear of late-stage drug failure is only exascerbating the problem.

The situation Campbell describes is dire. And until we have an FDA that will stand up to Big Pharma instead of carrying its water, I’m afraid it won’t be getting better.

For a full report on the speech, check out RSC.

Hat tip: OnPharma.