Derek Lowe's commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry. An editorially independent blog from the publishers of Science Translational Medicine. All content is Derek’s own, and he does not in any way speak for his employer.

By Derek Lowe

Posts tagged with "Drug Development"

• Drug Development

  The Latest on Drug Failure and Approval Rates

  9 May, 2019

  We now have an updated look at clinical success rates in the industry, and it’s a timely topic. Last year there were 59 approvals by the FDA (a new record), and the year before was good as well. So the question is always whether such numbers are artifacts, random noise, or part of a real… Read More

• Academia (vs. Industry)

  From Industry to Academia

  23 April, 2019

  Academic research and industrial drug discovery have always been on separate paths, but my impression is that the two understand each other better now than they have at any time during my career. That’s in no small part due to the number of industrial scientists who have moved into academia (itself in no small part… Read More

• Animal Testing

  Enough With the Mouse Behavioral Models?

  16 April, 2019

  This piece in STAT is well worth a read. The author, Adam Rosenberg of Rodin Therapeutics, is ready to ditch rodent-centric models for human CNS disease, and I can see where he’s coming from. I’ve often said that when I think back on my Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia drug discovery days (back when I was first… Read More

• Business and Markets

  Sorrento Therapeutics Is Not Happy

  4 April, 2019

  I have not been a fan of Patrick Soon-Shiong and his approach to the biopharma business (and the publicity thereof). There’s a new lawsuit that (should its accusation hold up) will make anyone even less of a fan. Here’s a rundown at Endpoints, and one at Forbes. It’s a mess, so I’ll try to untangle… Read More

• Cancer

  No Pain, and No Worries?

  29 March, 2019

  The FAAH (fatty acid amide hydrolase) enzyme system has provided a number of headlines over the years. FAAH itself is involved in the brain’s endocannabinoid system – it clears neurotransmitters like anandamide – and a number of other biologically important hydroxyethylamide and acyltaurines. So the potential for inhibitors of it… Read More

• Business and Markets

  Zafgen: Will There Be a Third Act?

  14 March, 2019

  A few years ago on this blog, I wrote several times about a small company called Zafgen and their unusual epoxide-based chemical matter (beloranib) that was in development for the rare Prader-Willi syndrome. That’s a genetic disorder that includes, among many other problems, constant hunger (with the complications that you’d expect fro… Read More

• Drug Assays

  Experiences With Phenotypic Screening?

  7 March, 2019

  Very little blogging time today, but I wanted to throw a question out to the readership instead. I’m at the Keystone conference on Phenotypic Drug Discovery, so here’s a relevant topic: what are your own experiences with phenotypic screening? Background for those outside the field: broadly speaking, you can sneak up on a drug by… Read More

• Business and Markets

  Institutional Memory

  4 March, 2019

  This is a topic that came up in the comments section of a post last week, but it’s important enough that I wanted to give it some exposure here on the front page. It was a question from someone outside the industry, who asked about how companies can retain “institutional memory”, what with all the… Read More

• Business and Markets

  The Clinic Giveth And Most Definitely Taketh Away

  7 February, 2019

  There have been some pretty dramatic clinical trial results coming out recently, and unfortunately drama is a variable that can take either a positive or a negative sign in front of it. On the plus side, MacroGenix, a company that not many people had been paying attention to, announced results of a head-to-head trial of… Read More

• Academia (vs. Industry)

  Targets Versus Drugs

  5 February, 2019

  There was a comment on the blog the other day about how there are people in academia who feel that the discovery of a new target or pathway is basically finding a new drug, and that the rest is “technicalities”. I’ve encountered that view of the world before (Donald Light/Rebecca Warburton, Marcia Angell, and similarly Arnold… Read More