Abstract: Building blockbuster molecules is a dream of many pharmaceutical companies, but the risk involved in developing a molecule into market is all that high, beside that, the drug development projects have seen a rise over the years. Growth of around 21% (1998-2005) in new product development projects are clear signs of positive trend of the industry. New product discovery not only involves developing NCEs (New Chemical Entities) but it also involves LEs (Line Extensions), wherein the existing products are fabricated to meet the current market needs. There has always been an increasing trend in the total number of companies involved in active research with leading pharmaceutical companies maintaining a healthier pipeline portfolio. Sanofi-Aventis stands high in terms of total active projects, among the other leading companies growth in pipeline size has been reported for Merck and Roche, however the giants GSK and Pfizer have shown no considerable growth. Apart from the larger pharmaceutical companies many other smaller companies like Axonyx and Neurochem, develop the lead products in niche segments and get the product into market with the help of larger pharmaceutical companies.1
Pharmaceutical research has always been focused towards profitable sectors. Current research has been highly oriented towards segments like Oncology, Cardiology and Analgesics, whereas diseases like Tuberculosis has failed to see any new introduction since many decades. In recent times interest has also moved towards diseases like Ophthalmology, Parkinsonism and Alzheimer's. Finding a successful new lead has been a great challenge in pharma research, major mechanisms around which the current research has been focused are Apoptosis, Angiogenesis inhibition and immune-stimulation.1
The demand for new drugs in areas of high unmet medical need or improved drugs for current diseases is immeasurable (e.g. drugs for AIDS, Tuberculosis). Despite its best efforts, the pharmaceutical industry is currently unable to bring enough drugs to the market annually to either sustain or promote its own growth. All eyes are now on the biotech industry where innovative, entrepreneurial spirit and flexibility should provide the ingredients to fuel the pipelines of the future. The successful players will be those companies that have a strong technology platform with a robust drug discovery engine at their core, capable of delivering a stream of diverse and innovative products for treating important disease indications.
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