The pharmaceutical industry is under growing pressure from a range of environmental issues, including major losses of revenue owing to patent expirations, increasingly cost-constrained healthcare systems and more demanding regulatory requirements. In our view, the key to tackling the challenges such issues pose to both the future viability of the pharmaceutical industry and advances in healthcare is to substantially increase the number and quality of innovative, cost-effective new medicines, without incurring unsustainable R&D costs. However, it is widely acknowledged that trends in industry R&D productivity have been moving in the opposite direction for a number of years. Here, we present a detailed analysis based on comprehensive, recent, industry-wide data to identify the relative contributions of each of the steps in the drug discovery and development process to overall R&D productivity. We then propose specific strategies that could have the most substantial impact in improving R&D productivity.

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We conclude that a 2-hour infusion of rATS or rTAP reduced angiographic restenosis and resulted in less luminal cross-sectional narrowing by plaque compared with controls.

SummaryAn in vivo thromboplastin (TP)-induced venous stasis thrombosis model in rabbits was used to compare the efficacy of standard heparin with the selective factor Xa inhibitors, recombinant tick anticoagulant peptide (rTAP) and recombinant antistasin (rATS), in prophylactic prevention of thrombus formation. Heparin significantly reduced TP-induced clot formation at doses of 55 and 100 U kg−1 h−1 yielding clot weights of 9 ± 4 and 6 ± 2%, respectively. Clot formation was significantly decreased by i.v. infusions of rTAP at doses of 21, 37 and 64 Μg kg−1 min−1 resulting in normalized clot weights of 13 ± 3, 8 ± 2 and 2 ± 1%, respectively. rATS was approximately 10-fold more potent than rTAP, reducing normalized clot weights to 16 ± 5, 2 ± 1 and 1 ± 0.8% at rATS doses of 1.25, 2.5 and 5.0 Μg kg−1 min−1, respectively. These data suggest that factor Xa-mediated inhibition of coagulation with rTAP and rATS is as effective as conventional anticogulant treatment with heparin in preventing venous thrombosis.