Editorial
This month's cover story, "Brave New R&D World," outlines a new path for drug research that diverges drastically from the present course. The article is based on a report—"Pharma 2020: Virtual R&D, Which path will you take?"—by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The article begins with a future scenario in which a clinical trial treatment plan is developed for John Doe, a patient diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. It outlines a course of treatment based on John’s genetic profile; it explains remote monitoring (via micron-sized robots) of his condition 24/7.
The description struck home. About 30 years ago, my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The next few years were difficult for my family. There was little knowledge about the disease available and few treatment options.
In the last 25 years, much progress has been made to gain a better understanding of the disease and to develop drugs to alleviate the symptoms. Clinical trials are testing even more therapies. There is no doubt that drug researchers are working hard to find treatments and cures for Alzheimer’s and other diseases. But drug failures are devastating, financially, medically, and emotionally.
As the pharmaceutical industry’s record at bringing drugs to market has faltered in recent years, many fingers have pointed to the research process. The PricewaterhouseCoopers report details a new research strategy that emphasizes "a comprehensive understanding of how the human body works at the molecular level, together with a much better grasp of the pathophysiology of disease." This knowledge, the report says, will be used to build predictive models, in lieu of using animal models.
Researchers will use mathematical models of the molecular and cellular components of the human body to simulate interactions with different compounds before they are tested in humans. To complete the “virtual man” and understand the effects of biological targets on an entire system, data must be integrated into a single, validated model.
Along with radical changes in clinical trial processes, the authors suggest that the research and development process could be shortened by two-thirds, success rates could increase dramatically, and thanks to reduced clinical trial costs, drug prices could potentially be cut in half.
The authors’ vision calls for a "seismic" shift in science, technology, and both research and business models in a short 12 years. While bioinformatics, systems biology, and other disciplines are making advances that my grandparents and parents never would have imagined, it will be interesting to see how these and other visions for the future of drug research can be turned into reality.
Our next issue marks the 10th anniversary of publication for Drug Discovery & Development magazine. For this special issue, we’ve asked industry leaders to comment on developments over the last decade. But, more important, we asked them to look ahead and provide some “bold predictions” of what lies ahead. It should make for some good reading.
This article was published in Drug Discovery & Development magazine: Vol. 11, No. 10, October, 2008, p.4.
