Incremental Drug Innovation: A Priority Focus for Laboratorios ERN

David Solanes López, General Manager of Laboratorios ERN, was appointed Academician of the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Catalonia on October 6, 2025, in the industrial section.

Solanes dedicated his induction speech to incremental innovation, an area closely linked to his professional career and to Laboratorios ERN’s commitment to developing solutions that improve patients’ lives.

Incremental innovation is based on identifying small improvements in the use of medicines that can lead to major benefits for patients. These improvements may be achieved through new forms or routes of administration of already known drugs, thereby enhancing health outcomes, efficacy, safety, treatment adherence, or facilitating access for specific groups that might otherwise not benefit from certain therapies.

It is an intelligent way of obtaining the best therapeutic benefit and performance from well-known and established drugs—always in favor of the patient. This type of innovative research practice is known as “incremental research.”

This kind of innovation, often less visible than disruptive innovation, focuses on refining existing medicines: new pharmaceutical forms, dosage adjustments, therapeutic combinations, and expanded indications, always with the goal of improving efficacy, safety, and adherence to treatment.

Incremental innovation not only consolidates medical progress but also contributes to the sustainability of the healthcare system by reducing avoidable hospitalizations and costs associated with poor adherence. Moreover, it creates opportunities for small and medium-sized pharmaceutical companies, which are often the driving force behind this type of development.

Until now, the reference pricing system penalized such improvements by economically equating them with original drugs. However, the recent legislative amendment that allows the application of a coefficient to increase the reference price for medicines that demonstrate objective improvements in safety, adherence, or quality of life opens the door to recognizing and incentivizing incremental innovation.

The future of medicine recognizes and values incremental innovation; these continuous improvements can translate into tangible benefits for patients and sustained progress for the healthcare system. Incremental innovation is not a minor resource—it is a responsible, realistic, and transformative strategy that enables a more human and patient-centered medicine.