Medical innovation, unmet medical needs, and the drug pipeline.

This paper outlines and illustrates the working of a theoretical approach from the social sciences for analyzing medical innovation, unmet medical need, and the drug pipeline. Using the social history of three drugs made from recombinant DNA (insulin, human growth hormone, and tissue-plasminogen activator) the paper shows how drugs can be both technically and organizationally efficient while the needs they satisfy can be created or identified. The paper posits that drugs that require more organizational efficiency tend to satisfy identified, rather then created needs. Key words: Recombinant DNA, technical efficiency, organizational efficiency, anthropology.