Pharmaceutical Strategy and Innovation: An Academics Perspective

Abstract

The pharmaceutical industry is under increasing pressure on many fronts, from investors requiring larger returns to consumer groups and health authorities demanding cheaper and safer drugs. It is also feeling additional pressure from the infringement upon its profit margins by generic drug producers. Many companies are aggressively pursuing outsourcing contracts in an attempt to counter many of the financial pressures and streamline their operations. At the same time, the productivity of the pharmaceutical industry at its science base is being questioned in terms of the number of products and the timeframes required for each company to deliver them to market. This has generated uncertainties regarding the current corporate strategies that have been adopted and the levels of innovation being demonstrated. In this essay we discuss these topics in the context of the global pharmaceutical market, investigating the basis for many of these issues and highlighting the hurdles the industry needs to overcome, especially as they relate to the chemical sciences.

Thermal Stability of Simvastatin under Different Atmospheres

“…(3) In the presence of oxygen (runs [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14], different extents of decomposition were noted. When T = 343 K no color changes or degradation products were observed.…”

“…1; C 25 H 38 O 5 , CAS number [79902-63-9], 1S,3R,7S,8S,8aR)-8-{2-[(2R,4R) -4-hydroxy-6-oxotetrahydro-2H-pyran -2 -yl]ethyl} -3,7 -dimethyl -1,2,3,7,8,8a-hexahydronaphthalen-1-yl 2,2-dimethylbutanoate), which was approved for marketing by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 1991 and is still widely prescribed to treat hypercholesterolemia. [1][2][3]6 It is normally administered in the lactone form ( Fig. 1), which is traditionally prepared by direct alkylation of lovastatin, a similar statin obtained as a secondary metabolite from the filamentous fungus Aspergillus terreus.…”

Continuous flow based catch and release protocol for the synthesis of α-ketoesters

“…Organic synthesis is changing rapidly owing to the discovery of processes that challenge current dogma and lead to the invention of new chemical reactions [1–2]. Likewise, new synthesis tools are impacting on the way we assemble molecules.…”

Biochips as Pathways to Drug Discovery. Edited by Andrew Carmen and Gary Hardiman.

“…One could take a broad view and say that the central focus of the book is the use of biochips to more efficiently use the £20.88 billion of research and development (R&D) monies spent by pharmaceutical companies in 2004. [1] Almost 35 % of R&D budgets are allocated to clinical trials, at which point a significant number of drugs fail. [1] Biochips are currently evolving into a predictive platform to determine if drugs will fail in latestage clinical trials before they progress there.…”

“…[1] Almost 35 % of R&D budgets are allocated to clinical trials, at which point a significant number of drugs fail. [1] Biochips are currently evolving into a predictive platform to determine if drugs will fail in latestage clinical trials before they progress there.…”