Unblocking the drugs pipeline

The pharmaceutical industry needs a shot in the arm. Where will that innovation come from?

FOR an industry that prides itself on innovation, the words came as a damning indictment and an embarrassing truth: "In many cases, developers have no choice but to use the tools and concepts of the last century to assess this century's candidates." So wrote the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a 2004 report on the pipeline problem ­ the slowdown in the emergence of new drugs despite significant scientific advances and increasing amounts of money being pumped into research. The US regulatory agency pointed the finger at the archaic practices of the US drug discovery and development industry, and its reluctance to take up new technologies.
Yet many pharmaceutical companies were already aware of the problem, and are charting bold new courses in an effort to reduce drug failure rates and bring more treatments to market. The industry leaders pioneering the next generation of tools and practices are fighting their corner.

Bulresearch offers best in class pharmaceutical pipeline database:

http://www.chartsbank.com/PipelineList.aspx