Abstract
Despite the large investments made in drug discovery in the past decade, there is still a dearth of new drugs. This highlights the persistence of a model of drug development that has not adapted to changes in science, public perception of drug companies or the marketplace. A high profit margin in the United States has shielded drug development from the usual economic pressures that would ordinarily drive reform. The strategy of merger, pursued by many companies to compensate for the failure to develop new drugs, has, in most cases, compounded the problem, imposing geographic and cultural segregation on an already inefficient process.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Pittman, J. et al. Integrated modeling of clinical and gene expression information for personalized prediction of disease outcomes. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101, 8431–8436 (2004).
Oksman–Caldentey, K. M., Inze D. & Oresic, M. Connecting genes to metabolites by a systems biology approach. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101, 9949–9950 (2004).
Dorsett, Y. & Tuschl, T. siRNAs: applications in functional genomics and potential as therapeutics. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 3, 318–329 (2004).
Zambrowicz, B. P. & Sands, A. T. Knockouts model the 100 best-selling drugs — will they model the next 100? Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 2, 38–51 (2003).
Grosser, T. et al. Developmental expression of functional cyclooxygenases in zebrafish. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 99, 8418–8423 (2002).
Booth, B. & Zemmel, R. Prospects for productivity. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 3, 451 (2004).
Woodcock, J. An audience with...: Janet Woodcock discusses the role of the FDA in improving pharma productivity. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 3, 904 (2004).
Anon. Big trouble for Big Pharma. Economist [online], <http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2269456> (2003).
Kaiser Family Foundation. Prescription drugs. [online], <http://www.kff.org/rxdrugs/index.cfm> (2005).
Center for the Study of Aging. Prescription drugs and the elderly: policy implications of Medicare coverage. [online], <http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB5028/rb5028.html> (1999).
Sambamoorthi, U., Akincigil, A., Wei, W. & Crystal, S. National trends in out-of-pocket prescription drug spending among elderly medicare beneficiaries. Future Drugs 5, 297–315 (2005).
Dyer, G. The wrong diagnosis: national champions may not cure the ills of the European drugs industry. Financial Times (5 May 2004).
Anon. The next big thing. India and China hold great promise. The Economist (16 June 2005).
Dai, C., Stafford, R. S. & Alexander, G. C. National trends in cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor use since market release: nonselective diffusion of a selectively cost-effective innovation. Arch. Intern. Med. 165, 171–177 (2005).
Wong, D., Wang, M., Cheng, Y. & FitzGerald, G. A. Cardiovascular hazard and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Curr. Opin. Pharmacol. 5, 204–210 (2005).
Solomon, D. H. Selective cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitors and cardiovascular events. Arthritis Rheum. 52, 1968–1978 (2005).
Department of Human Health Services. Meeting Announcement: Enhancing the Discipline of Clinical and Translational Research. [online], <http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-RR-05-006.html> (2005).
Vandenbroucke, J. P. On the new clinical fashion in epidemiology. Epidemiol. Infect. 102, 191–198 (1989).
Penny, M. A. & MacHale, D. Pharmacogenomics and the drug discovery pipeline: when should it be implemented? Am. J. Pharmacogenomics 5, 53–62 (2005).
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to R. Glynne, K. Horgan and D. Rader who made many useful suggestions that were incorporated into this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing financial interests.
Related links
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
FitzGerald, G. Anticipating change in drug development: the emerging era of translational medicine and therapeutics. Nat Rev Drug Discov 4, 815–818 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd1849
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd1849
This article is cited by
-
Exploring network dynamics in science: the formation of ties to knowledge translators in clinical research
Journal of Evolutionary Economics (2021)
-
Prediction of new Hsp90 inhibitors based on 3,4-isoxazolediamide scaffold using QSAR study, molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation
DARU Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2017)
-
QSAR and docking analysis of A2B adenosine receptor antagonists based on non-xanthine scaffold
Medicinal Chemistry Research (2015)
-
The advancement of translational medicine—from regional challenges to global solutions
Nature Medicine (2009)
-
The adult human brain in preclinical drug development
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (2008)