Can academic drug discovery programs improve on pharma’s relative stagnation?
Mar 31st, 2008 by Axel
Terra Sigillata : Can academic drug discovery programs improve on pharma’s relative stagnation?
A paper in last month’s issue of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery reported that US drug approvals during 2007 were the lowest number since 1983. (17 new molecular entities and 2 biologicals; see this figure for 1996-2007 data.) The review cites increased regulatory action as a factor in this reduction, especially following high-profile post-marketing safety issues with blockbuster drugs like Vioxx or Avandia. But other commentators have noted other problems such as the science of drug discovery in pharma being overridden by managers or the reluctance to develop agents for diseases that afflict less-than-blockbuster-sized patient populations.