J. Drews et S. Ryser, PHARMACEUTICAL INNOVATION BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC OPPORTUNITIES AND ECONOMIC-CONSTRAINTS, Drug discovery today, 2(9), 1997, pp. 365-372
New drugs are only developed when sales expectations appear to match t
he rising expenditures for development. The repertoire of diseases tha
t are seriously addressed by large pharmaceutical companies is shrinki
ng, Genomics offers the promise of inventing and developing more selec
tive therapies for a large number of diseases, but such increases in s
electivity almost inevitably lead to therapeutics aimed at smaller pat
ient populations. Scientific opportunity on the one hand and economic
constraints on the other are forcing pharmaceutical R&D in different d
irections. This study tries to quantify the problem and to identify me
chanisms through which the apparent conflict may be resolved.