Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the eff ect of a repertoire of available therapies for a certain disease
using the cells obtained from a certain individual. This would off er
an unparalleled achievement, and its contribution to the success
rate of treatments could prove truly astronomical. Similarly to the
way high-content screening is revolutionizing the process of drug
discovery, the application of these methods using human stem cells
together with nanotechnology for improving targeted drug delivery,
is expected to produce the next major breakthrough for personalized
medicine in the pharmaceutical industry.
9.1 Introduction
Drug discovery and development is an extremely dynamic process
and the challenges it involves are constantly changing. As in most
commercial industries, there are numerous external aspects that
aff ect the pharmaceutical industry. Thus, the process of constructing
a successful research and development strategy that is cost-eff ective
includes components such as focus on diseases with the highest
potential return on investment, increased R&D productivity, and the
achievement of unquestionable benefit versus risk.
During recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has been
struggling with dwindling R&D productivity. A few of the causes of
this lower productivity are the prolonged R&D cycles, immensely
prolonged approval times, and staggering rates of drug attrition.
For example, over 90% of the drugs entered into clinical trials fail to
gain FDA approval [1]. Whereas due to the regulatory authorities it
would appear difficult to speed up the approval times, the long R&D
cycles and high attrition rates are factors that could be addressed
by the pharmaceutical companies through using novel or improved
technologies for drug discovery. Technological improvements that
would allow a more cost-efficient R&D process would also open
the way for development of drugs that would treat those diseases
that, under the current conditions, may not receive the funding and
attention necessary for significant progress to be made. It is quite
clear that by improving the screening technologies used in this
industry, it will be possible to revolutionize an industry that has
been falling short of fulfilling its true potential for quite some time.
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