Progress in Systems-Based Analysis of Cellular Signalling By Dr Jeffrey A. Radding Drug discovery currently focuses on targeted approaches, relying on validation of the target as a disease driver. However, the underlying biological complexity of disease often frustrates these attempts at therapeutic intervention, resulting in high failure rates due to… Read More
Perspectives for ADMET Integration in the Discovery Process By Dr Constance Hofer ADMET (ADME/Tox), is a relatively new symbiotic acronym for the investigation of basic compound behaviour in terms of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, combined with assessments of toxicity. The emergence of ADMET instead of ADME reflects the growing… Read More
The Role of Thorough QT Testing in Managing Drug Development By Dr William S. Wheeler With few exceptions, all compounds being submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval in the United States will require an assessment of QT prolongation, either by a standard Thorough QT/QTc study, or… Read More
Novartis Vaccines - Leading through innovation and technology By Dr Joerg Reinhardt Every year, vaccines save millions of lives by preventing major human diseases, protecting individuals and those close to them, and offering widespread public defence against disease. In 2006, Novartis joined the vaccines market when it acquired Chiron, creating… Read More
Next Generation DNA Sequencing Technologies By Dr Bruce E. Taillon and Brendon Hill Human genetics is the foundation of disease as well as the response to pharmaceutical agents. Today, promising drugs are abandoned due to the lack of significant efficacy in broad patient populations. Recently, blockbuster drugs have been removed… Read More
Industry Strategies on Theranostics: Need for structural alignment Dr Rutger O. van Merkerk and Dr Wouter P.C. Boon Theranostics is said to change the way patients will manage their disease. Such a change assumes that diagnostics and therapeutics become increasingly linked based on genetic information. Companies that adhere to this… Read More
The Power of APTAMERS in the Drug Discovery Process Professor Michael Famulok Methods of combinatorial biochemistry allow the identification of nucleic acid sequences, or aptamers, which can bind their target molecules with high affinity and specificity and are able to efficiently inhibit their biological function. Macugen, the first aptamer-based drug… Read More
Technology, Bane or Bonanza for the Pharmaceutical industry? By Dr Stephen Naylor, Adam W. Culbertson and Dr Stephen J. Valentine Productivity in the pharmaceutical industry has long held well-documented concerns. While the adoption of new technologies into the drug discovery and development process has often been seen as a… Read More
Reshaping the Landscape of Cancer Drug Discovery and Development By Dr Paolo Paoletti The landscape of cancer drug discovery and development is shifting, adjusting and reshaping itself in response to the huge rush of scientific knowledge which has come to the fore over the past few decades. In collaboration with… Read More
Designing animal models for evaluation of therapeutic and vaccine candidates for emerging and biodefence-related pathogens By Dr Colleen Jonsson and Dr Peter Silvera While a number of promising drug therapies and vaccines have been identified for safeguarding bioterrorism organisms and diseases, further development requires well characterised animal models for testing… Read More
Molecular Diagnostics in Drug Development - The changing face of pharmaceutical discovery By Dr Berwyn Clarke Clinical drug development is moving into an era where high technology new diagnostics are key to the development of the majority of new drugs. Markers are now available that can be used as surrogate… Read More
Automated Biobanking - The next big step for biorespositories By Dr John Comley As a significant proportion of the many newly established national, regional and disease-specific biobanks or biorespositories contemplate how they will enable enhanced sample integrity, tracking and audit trail, there has never been a more opportune time to… Read More
Tools for Target Identification, Validation and Biomarker Discovery By Dr Paul Denny-Gouldson As automation in the drug discovery arena increases then so does the amount and complexity of the data. We discuss an emerging solution that now integrates various technologies to provide a scientific data intelligence tool giving scientists increasing… Read More
Personalised Medicine - Technological innovation and patient empowerment or exuberant hyperbole? By Adam W. Culbertson, Dr Stephen J. Valentine and Dr Stephen Naylor The current paradigm of modern healthcare focuses on patient symptoms, subsequent diagnosis and corresponding treatment of the specific disease(s). Escalating healthcare costs and a trial and error… Read More
By Dr Jean-Luc Vanderheyden As the experience and advances in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging grows, so does the belief that this technology can have a key role to play in ushering in an era of personalised medicine while also offering an enormous contribution in reducing the attrition rates in… Read More
Genetics & Personalised Medicine - Whole genome association and genetic linkage studies By Dr John W. Hooper Genetic linkage studies have long been the standard for researching the genetics associated with heritable diseases. Recently, however, scientists have begun to realise the benefits of whole genome association studies, which enable them… Read More
