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IV.
Drug Development into the Next Millennium |
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There has never been a more exciting time to work in drug development. Dramatic advances in technology will revolutionize the way drugs are discovered. Genomics, robotics, miniaturization, and information technology will synergize to accelerate the pace at which new science is translated into novel drug candidates. The capacity to discover new drug candidates will outstrip development resources. This will accentuate the need for strategic visioningchoosing the best options from the pack to put into development as well as emphasizing, still further, the need to shake out weak projects from the portfolio. Drug development will be particularly exciting because, for the first time in history, our human molecular architecture will be known, revealing multiple vantage points from which to attack disease. Disease management will increasingly be seen in a holistic way by drug developers, drug prescribers, and payers. In so doing, those groups will provide better service to the patient (who was always holistic!). Understanding the genetic basis of disease, the availability of diagnostic markers to target and monitor disease states, and the new array of drugs tailored for disease states will transform medical practice. Value assessment of medicines will develop from its present infancy. This will demand a much greater effort to understand the disease state and where a new medicine will make its best impact. Health economics strategy will become firmly embedded in development strategy throughout the development and life-cycle management of a drug. |
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New strategies will be needed to meet the new challenges presented by new science and new customer expectations. Development strategy will increasingly be set with customer groups. Ultimately, it is in the interests of all parties that the true value of a new medicine be revealed as soon as possible, so that all parties can derive maximum benefit. Patients on project teams could rapidly dispel misconceptions about the burden of disease. HMO economists, equally, could rapidly add focus to health economic strategy. An engagement strategy that binds stakeholders and customers together with greater transparency and trust is likely to be the most fruitful avenue for drug development in the new millennium. |
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1. A Kennedy, B, Mangham. Project Management in drug development. In: J Lloyd, A Raven, ed. A.C.R.P.I. Handbook of Clinical Research. Churchill Medical Communications, 1994, p 364. |
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2. P S Helliwell, V Wright. Anti-inflammatory drugs. In: J O'Grady and O I Linet, eds. Early Phase Drug Evaluation in Man. The MacMillan Press, 1990, p 674. |
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