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
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
Chemical microarrays - The drug discovery superhighway By Elaine Seeskin While producing targets was once the bottleneck in the drug discovery process, in the post-genomic era this has been superseded by the requirement for high-quality lead structures. As a result of the pool of genomic data and countless unvalidated targets… Read More
Channelling Drug Discovery - Current trends in ion channel drug discovery research By Dr David Owen and Andrew Silverthorne Ion channels are proteins that span cell membranes thus forming conduits or 'channels' through which charged ions such as sodium and potassium can pass across a normally impermeant barrier such as… Read More
Business strategy for implementation of biomarkers in drug development By Miles Flamenbaum With pharmacoproteomic biomarkers being the subject of focus among regulatory agencies as well as research institutions, many pharmaceutical companies are increasing their interest and investment in biomarker strategies. This article discusses the potential for new efficiencies and cost… Read More
From raw data in the laboratory to information availability in the enterprise By Dieter Kreusel If pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies could measure their success merely on the volume of raw data accumulated from screening assays and pre-clinical testing, they would be basking in the glow of unprecedented success. Companies are… Read More
Proteomics In Drug Target Discovery - High-throughput meets high-efficiency By Dr Terence E. Ryan and Dr Scott D. Patterson Biochemistry is enjoying a renaissance under the guise of 'proteomics' due to the availability of sequenced genomes, advances in mass spectrometry and associated data analysis. Its application to drug discovery and… Read More
Cell Based Assays - Seeing the light By Dr Nick Thomas High-context cell assays have the potential to take the pivotal role in the drug discovery process. So what are the features of today's leading edge cell based assay technologies and where does the future lie? We live in interesting… Read More
The genomics revolution is poised to sweep aside the old economics of pharmaceutical R&D. The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries; and perhaps healthcare delivery in general; are on the brink of transformation, and companies that embrace the revolution in the right way stand to reap enormous benefits. Developing a new drug… Read More
Data Mining in the pharmaceutical industry By Dr Robert D. Small and Herbert A. Edelstein A research-based pharmaceutical company is a data accumulating wonder. More than in any other industry, success is predicated on the collection, processing and exploitation of that data. This is not always recognised and often not… Read More
The Impact of Genomics on Regulation By Dr Steve Arlington, Dr Tim Peakman, Adriana Salvatore and Jonathan Peachey Advances in science and technology are enabling us to understand physiology and pathology at a totally new level; to define, subtype and track diseases much more accurately; and to treat patients far… Read More
New Developments in Analgesia By Dr Susan Boyce, Dr Zahid Ali and Dr Raymond G. Hill Novel therapies for pain and headache are major medical needs and constitute a continued opportunity. Novel treatments are likely to arise from a better understanding of both the pathophysiology of clinical pain conditions and… Read More
Protein Arrays - New technology for the proteomics era By Dr Jeffrey P. Kiplinger The study of the human proteome will drive drug discovery in coming years; although how, when, and in what direction are a little uncertain at present. To build understanding of the role of the human protein… Read More
