Abstract
This article compares the innovative efforts of large national (GEFNs) and transnational (GEFTs) pharmaceutical companies operating in Brazil. The descriptive methodology uses unpublished data from the last three editions of the Innovation Survey (Pintec) - 2008, 2011 and 2014 - and a literature review of the pharmaceutical industry and its innovation strategies to explain the innovative efforts described by the data. The results show the positive evolution of GEFNs in terms of the effort to build innovative capacity, and of GEFTs to maintain the standards of low innovative efforts in Brazil. It is concluded that GEFNs are changing their pattern of investments in innovative activities. Such results corroborate empirical studies, which showed the advance in the complexity of innovative capabilities of these companies, and pointed out other strategies used, such as partnership with knowledge centers and internationalization of R&D.
Keywords:
Pharmaceutical industry; Large companies; Technological capacity; Innovation; Brazil