New index reveals Eli Lilly as the top-ranked company across top 25 global biopharma, while data expose considerable inflationary pressures on R&D
New York – July 28, 2026: Norstella, the leading global provider of AI-enabled pharma intelligence solutions, today announced the launch of the Pipeline-to-Patient Productivity Index (P3i), a new annual benchmark measuring R&D productivity, market access, and commercial return across the top 25 global biopharma companies.
The P3i is the first benchmark to follow drug performance across the entire development and commercialization lifecycle. The index is designed to support capital allocation and portfolio decisions across biopharma. It is made possible by Norstella’s unique position across the pharma value chain combining data from across Citeline, Evaluate and MMIT.
“Pharmaceutical R&D is one of the largest sustained investments any industry makes. It deserves a clearer scoreboard than the one it has,” said Mike Gallup, CEO of Norstella. “The Pipeline-to-Patient Productivity Index is built around that idea. It is the first benchmark to follow a molecule across the entire journey: from disclosure, through clinical risk, into market access, and on to commercial return.”
Key Findings from the Inaugural P3i
Eli Lilly tops the inaugural ranking, having risen from what would have been 16th place against the 2020 benchmarks. The report attributes this trajectory to operational improvements across its pipeline, not solely to the success of its GLP-1 franchise. UCB has similarly risen sharply, while several companies have dropped out of the top ten.
2025 Pipeline-to-Patient Productivity Index Benchmarks
Source: Data provided by Norstella brands Citeline, Evaluate and MMIT
The full report identifies several structural dynamics shaping the industry:
- R&D costs and development timelines are both rising: Pipeline creation has slowed by 32% over the last five years, even as R&D spend increased by 45% across the cohort. The median development timeline has extended from 8.4 to 9.3 years within the same period.
- Companies are responding through stricter portfolio discipline: Overall success rates have fallen to 8.2% due to a higher Phase I barrier. 38% of clinical failures are now taking place at this early stage, reflecting tighter criteria for advancing into costly late-stage development.
- Access to new launches is tightening but their commercial impact is rising: One-year coverage stands at 68.3%, in line with the 2020 benchmark, but annual data for 2024 and 2025 suggest a downward trend coinciding with more active payer utilization management such as restrictive prior authorization criteria.
- Launch performance is improving, but unevenly: Average revenues at seven years post-launch have risen to $1.6bn, driven substantially by GLP-1 therapies. Excluding Wegovy and Mounjaro, the current cohort average falls to $1.3bn – on par with five years ago.
- Greater scale of launches is required to rejuvenate portfolio mixes: Newly launched products account for 25.7% of total prescription revenues, down from 28.9% in 2020. On current projections, that figure falls to 18% by 2030, pointing to a growing need for deal-making to grow beyond the patent cliff.
“The headline figures tell one story, but the dispersion is where the real insight lies,” said Daniel Chancellor, VP of Thought Leadership at Norstella. “Even the best-performing companies carry areas of weakness. Those that are thriving have done so through specialization, portfolio focus, and disciplined pipeline governance, not through scale alone.”
The full report is available at https://www.norstella.com/p3i/.
About the Pipeline-to-Patient Productivity Index
The P3i is the first benchmark to follow drug performance across the entire development and commercialization lifecycle, from early pipeline creation, through clinical development and regulatory approval, into market access, and commercial return.
Norstella’s unique position across the pharma value chain makes this analysis possible. Citeline contributes pipeline and clinical development data; Evaluate brings portfolio investment intelligence; and MMIT provides market access and formulary analytics. No other organization has equivalent visibility across all three stages.
The P3i will be updated annually, with the 2025 benchmark serving as the baseline against which future editions will be measured.
About Norstella
Norstella is the AI company for biopharma’s highest-stakes decisions. A global life sciences company trusted by every Top 100 pharma company and industry experts the world over, Norstella unites market-leading brands — Citeline, Evaluate, MMIT, Panalgo, Skipta, and The Dedham Group — turning decision-grade data, insights and expertise into AI you can act on, from pipeline to patient. With the patient always at the center, Norstella is advancing the path to life-changing therapies for patients and providers.
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norstella@diffusionpr.com
