Pharmaceutical Research and Development
In 2006, people across the world spent an astonishing $643 billion on prescription drugs and the United States accounted for almost half of that total. Obviously the pharmaceutical industry is booming thanks in part to the continuous development of new medications. Below is a look at how new drugs are researched, discovered and developed.
The first step to creating a new drug occurs when it is discovered or designed. The majority of past discoveries occurred when researchers isolated an active ingredient from a traditional remedy used to combat a malady or by shear luck. Today, researchers use biotechnology to understand the human body’s metabolic pathways and how diseases and infections can be controlled at the molecular level.
Drug development involves all the activities after a drug compound has been discovered or designed that make it a suitable and safe medication. This includes finding the appropriate formulation of chemicals and appropriate dosing. Drug companies must conduct exhaustive tests on new drugs to test their effectiveness, potential side effects and risks. In vitro testing is performed in a controlled setting using a test tube or Petri dish rather than a living organism or human. In vivo testing involves a whole, living organism which can include animals and human clinical testing. Clinical trials involve human subjects and are conducted to ensure drugs’ safety and effectiveness. These types of clinical trials are often the source of great controversy in the pharmaceutical world. Many drug research and development companies have drawn scrutiny for reporting only the positive results of their testing.
The cost incurred by pharmaceutical companies for drug research and development can be astronomical. One study suggests that uniquely new medications can cost around $1 billion by the time they are successfully approved by the Food and Drug Administration. And very few of them are approved each year, only around 25. But should one medication a drug company creates actually succeed, it can produce remarkable revenue for the company.
It is a long process drug companies endure to produce medications from discover to development to manufacturing and finally marketing to consumers like us. While the time, effort and costs can be weighty, the payoff is creating a product that might save lives while also bringing in huge profits. As long as the medications are safe and effective, it’s a winning situation for everyone.
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This entry was posted on Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 11:13 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
