New Visions in Ophthalmic Drug Development By Dr Benjamin R. Yerxa, Dr Ward M. Peterson and Robin S.Whitsell Over the last 10 years we have seen the introduction of several new 'ophthalmology only' pharmaceutical products emerge such as Trusopt (dorzolamide, Merck) and Xalatan (latanoprost, Pharmacia). Innovative products such as these… Read More
Better drugs by MICROARRAY By Dr Mark Schena Microarray analysis allows the elucidation of biological processes and pathways on a genomic scale. This revolutionary technology promises an unprecedented view of drug action and side reaction, the ability to identify drug targets and optimise lead compounds, the capacity to predict patient… Read More
The New Blockbuster Drugs - Healthcare packages for particular disease pathologies By Dr Nick Davies and Dr Steve Arlington With the cost of bringing a new drug to market now exceeding $800 million there is no doubt that the pharmaceutical industry has to fundamentally address the way in which it… Read More
Finding and minding R&D talent the hidden human cost of merger mania By Sue Harris This article examines the impact on R&D staff of the current economic uncertainty, the raft of mega-mergers and the growth of the biotech sector. Senior management repeatedly comment that finding, motivating and retaining talented individuals… Read More
Predictive chemoinformatics applications to the pharmaceutical industry By Dr Leslie J. Browne and Laurie L.Taylor While significant advances in chemoinformatics present tremendous opportunities to improve human health, the future of chemoinformatics in the pharmaceutical industry is not without significant challenges. Chemoinformatics is the result of collective advances in chemistry, biology,… Read More
Protein Biochips - On the threshold of success By Dr Steven Bodovitz and Felicia Gentile With sales of protein biochips set to top $700 million in 2006, we present a current overview of this fast moving technology and the applications for the pharmaceutical industry as a whole. On the surface… Read More
CNS Drug Discovery - Realising the dream By Dr Julie C. Barnes and Dr Ann G. Hayes Over the years, the discovery of drugs for treating neurological and psychiatric diseases has proven to be one of the highest risk areas in the pharmaceutical industry. Despite the huge resources that have… Read More
By Dr Ian Gilham The increasing cost of healthcare along with new opportunities for improved treatments puts ever increasing pressures on healthcare budgets. In recent years the diagnostic industry in particular has been the target of a number of cost-cutting exercises by governments and payers aimed at restricting the utilisation… Read More
The emergence of pharmacogenomics within the pharmaceutical industry By Aidan Power, Suzin Webb, Dr Albert Seymour and Dr Patrice Milos The sequencing of the human genome represents one of the most significant scientific advances of the 20th century that will shape the foundation of medical research well into the 21st. Read More
The Once and Future Microarray Market By Dr Ken Rubenstein Although the future for micorarray technology looks bright, the DNA microarray consumer is faced with a number of important choices regarding sources and technologies. Developers, users, and afficionados of DNA microarray technology, who happened on July 25, 2002 to peruse… Read More
The importance of using human-based models in gene and drug discovery By Dr Michael G. Palfreyman, Dr Vinod Charles and Jeffrey Blander Completion of the human genome sequence has opened an unprecedented opportunity to discover the genetic contribution to many of the complex diseases that afflict humans and to use… Read More
By Dr Roger A. Edwards, Dr Kai Zhang and Louise Firth Different companies have employed various techniques and strategies for addressing productivity issues in the chemistry functions within pharmaceutical discovery and preclinical development. We benchmarked lead optimisation, clinical candidate selection, and chemistry support for preclinical development before IND filing in… Read More
Drug development for skin diseases based on functional genomics By Dr Jorn-Peter Halle With the high number of sufferers from skin disease around the world, it is astonishing that there are relatively few treatments available and that many of these only serve to relieve symptoms. Can drug development based on… Read More
Fine-tuning the technology strategies for lead finding By Sandra Fox, Dr Shauna Farr-Jones, Dr Lynne Sopchak and Dr Helen Wang HTS has become the workhorse of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies' drug discovery efforts, with expanding responsibilities and increasing pressures to screen more targets with better compound libraries to find high-quality… Read More
Monoclonal Antibodies - Magic bullets or a shot in the dark By Dr Fiona Adair It has been 16 years since the first monoclonal antibody was approved for therapy in acute transplant rejection. Now, with a further nine therapeutic monoclonal antibodies approved for use and some 16 in phase III… Read More
Nanolitre Dispensing - On the point of delivery By Dr John Comley Precise low-volume liquid handling methodologies are still sought after by those interested in enabling miniaturised HTS. This article reviews the need for nanolitre dispensing and provides a current perspective on those emerging technologies that have the potential to… Read More
