The effectiveness of the “out of core” discoveries: Serendipity in the R&D of rare diseases and “orphan drugs"

Serendipity – the notion of making unexpected and valuable discoveries – and knowledge arbitrage have played a significant role in the debate about innovation and innovation effectiveness, opening a considerable discussion about the feasibility of R&D investments. The chance to detect serendipitous events and the mechanisms triggering it may attract the attention of those seeking greater efficiency in research and those aiming to sustain basic research. Depending on the above, our research focuses on the serendipitous events and knowledge arbitrage in the R&D of rare diseases and orphan drugs to detail the market opportunities and the economic value arising from the untargeted discoveries. The Tigem research center in Pozzuoli (Italy) is engaged as a case study to achieve this purpose. Since no previous researches are available about the serendipity in R&D of rare disease, this paper provides new knowledge in a still underexplored field, offering new insights at both theoretical and practical levels.