# What is the Discovery Tax?

## The Hidden Cost Slowing Biopharma R&D

/dis·cov·er·y tax/

The compounding cost of operational friction in biopharma R&D — the hidden toll paid in scientist time, delayed programs, and wasted spend every time process gets in the way of science. Unlike most taxes, this one is optional.

## What Is the Discovery Tax Costing Your Organization?

### R&D Organization Size

75  
Includes scientists, program managers, and operations staff

### Avg. fully-loaded cost per scientist

$245K / yr  
Salary, benefits, overhead — typically $120K–$250K in biopharma

### Annual external R&D spend

$50M  
CRO, CDMO, and external supplier spend per year

### Active external studies / programs

125  
Studies currently in flight with external partners

### Your discovery tax

Estimated annual Discovery Tax  
$4.8M  
hidden cost of operational friction  
375  
Scientist weeks lost to friction / yr  
38  
Studies delayed by procurement friction

### Your recoverable tax

$3.6M  
Scientist Productivity Cost  
$1.8M  
5 weeks/scientist/yr × fully-loaded cost  
Spend leakage  
$3.0M  
~6% of external spend lost to lack of visibility

### Science Exchange benchmarks

6.5x faster  
project initiation  
5 weeks  
returned per scientist / yr  
21%  
avg. cost savings YoY

## Science Exchange · Intelligent Infrastructure for Science

## Ready to eliminate your Discovery Tax?

Science Exchange gives biopharma R&D teams the operational infrastructure to move from friction to flow — faster programs, smarter spend, more science.

## Discovery Tax Resources

### [What Leading R&D Organizations Do Differently](/content/blog/what-leading-rd-organizations-do-differently/index.html)

### [Intelligent Infrastructure for Science: The Six Capabilities Modern R&D Operations Demand](/content/blog/intelligent-infrastructure-rd-operations-capabilities/index.html)

### [What's Your Discovery Tax?](/content/blog/whats-your-discovery-tax/index.html)