Successful Drug Discovery from the Research Lab to the Marketplace (Discovery)
Every drug has a unique story on its journey from an idea to the marketplace. What is almost always the case though is that each drug has a champion, to help guide the concept and the drug compound through sometimes difficult waters. A company will often be completely reorganized, change management or be acquired by a competitor several times during the period when a promising compound is in late stage discovery or development. There are a number of marketed drugs, including Buspirone, Prozac, Acyclovir, Viagara or Paracetamol that may not have been come to light in modern laboratories.
These drugs were invented by scientists relying often on instinctive invention and observation, who sometimes fought shy of formal systems. Many drugs are the product of serendipity, or "lucky" observations, but in fact the scientists involved often "made their own luck", by acting on seemingly disparate data to hunt for a new disease treatment.
The session focused on some headline blockbuster drugs, some with well-defined and innovative mechanisms of action as well as some earlier stage compounds with a fascinating rationale and origin. During the talks it was illustrated how every drug is unique; but scientists need to have time and space as well as the motivation to observe and discover, by sound observation. The invention and development of a new drug rarely follows a prescribed pattern. The discipline of Drug-hunting requires determination, openness to new thinking, teamwork and the ability to link apparently disparate observations into a novel rationale.
The impact of outstanding project leadership on the process of Drug Discovery and Development was illustrated as an important part of this session.
Successful Drug Discovery from the Research Lab to the Marketplace (Therapy)
In the last decade, drug options for different diseases are rapidly increased, but several of these latters remain a significant global health problem and an area of increased awareness among both patients and medical practitioners. Many scientific results have highlighted new targets for drug discovery, including inhibition of inflammatory mediators and newly formed proteins. Epidemiological and prospective studies have, also, potentially proposed the vital role of bioactive substances, present in the food, and/or set in the context of a dietary, in reducing the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, the studies for evaluating new molecules to treat painful conditions are in progress. No pharmacologic interventions, such as antioxidants, deserve equal emphasis both in the prevention and treatment of several age-related diseases; therefore, their use as drugs could be useful. New developments in drug delivery research are likely to have important impacts on pharmaceutical and biomedical industries.
It is evident that, for the complexity of the disease, strategies targeting different multiple systems involved in disease progression are required to maximize the therapeutic benefits of intervention. To this end, there are a number of approaches currently under active evaluation and for this; the interaction among scientists and industries is required.
