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Introduction: In recent times the issue of Drugs R&D
which is the lifeline of modern pharmaceutical companies
has been discussed with a high degree of concern in view
of the enormous escalation in costs and the consequent
unaffordable (by the majority of World’s population)
prices of drugs . The industry has so far been unable to
find appropriate solutions to this menacing problem. To
afford the high costs of R&D and improve performance,
R&D-based Pharmaceutical Companies have been pursuing
the strategic route of Mergers and Acquisitions during
the last few decades. The alliances thus forged were in
many cases among near equal partners such as
Glaxo-Wellcome and Smith Kline, Pfizer and Warner
Lambert, Pfizer and Pharmacia-Upjohn, Hoechst and
Roussel, CIBA and GEIGY, CIBA-GEIGY and Sandoz, Bristol
Myers and Squibb, Aventis and Sanofi, Pfizer and Wyeth
etc. There are also several instances of large
Pharmaceutical Companies acquiring stakes in smaller
Companies to strengthen their research pipelines such as
Roche and Genentech, J&J and Centocor, J&J and Alza
Corporation etc. These alliances not only improved the
finances of the new entity, but also complemented their
therapeutic ranges, R&D pipelines and marketing
strengths. However, the size of the new Companies compel
them to deploy their R&D efforts and investments only in
areas aimed at discovery and development of Blockbusters
for lucrative markets. In the process the priorities of
these Companies are increasingly shifting to markets
rather than meeting medical needs. In the wake of
decreasing chances for the discovery of potential
blockbusters , that avenue is also shut in most cases.
The new alternative, largely triggered by the success of
a few biotech products is to go for speciality care
products catering to treatment of limited number of
patients (personalised medicines) rather than for
primary care for large populations.
History of Drug Discovery
Even though there were no organized research efforts in
the early days of usage of drugs, Botanicals were the
main stay during the 1800’s . Some of the drugs
‘discovered’ during those days such as quinine,
morphine, codeine, digitalis, aspirin etc are relevant
even today. An insight into microbial theory of
infections followed by the discovery of Penicillin
during the Second World War opened an era of Antibiotics
in the 40’s. The structure of the DNA elucidated by
Watson & Crick was to play a major role during the
decade of the 50’s and 60’s so much so that these
decades represented the golden era of drug discovery.
New fundamental ideas on a variety of disease areas such
as Cardiovascular and Central System disorders, Immune
disorders and Metabolic Diseases were mooted during
these years and based on experimental models developed
for them and random screening of synthetic molecules a
large number of drugs were discovered during this
decade. Late 70’s and early 80’s saw the advent of
modern biotechnology. The setting up of the first
Biotech company, Genentech in 1976 and the launch of the
first recombinant protein, Human Insulin, heralded a new
era with major implications for the future of drug
discovery and development. Emphasis since the second
half of nineties shifted to major efforts to reduce the
costs of drug research, development of more specific ,
effective and safe drugs using approaches different from
those hitherto followed by the R&D based Pharmaceutical
companies.
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