Abstract

The modern pharmacopeia has enormous power to alleviate disease, and owes its existence almost entirely to the work of the pharmaceutical industry. This book provides an introduction to the way the industry goes about the discovery and development of new drugs. The first part gives a brief historical account from its origins in the mediaeval apothecaries’ trade, and discusses the changing understanding of what we mean by disease, and what therapy aims to achieve, as well as summarising case histories of the discovery and development of some important drugs. The second part focuses on the science and technology involved in the discovery process: the stages by which a promising new chemical entity is identified, from the starting point of a medical need and an idea for addressing it. A chapter on biopharmaceuticals, whose discovery and development tend to follow routes somewhat different from synthetic compounds, is included here, as well as accounts of patent issues that arise in the discovery phase, and a chapter on research management in this environment. The third section of the book deals with drug development: the work that has to be undertaken to turn the drug candidate that emerges from the discovery process into a product on the market.

• The definitive introduction to how a pharmaceutical company goes about its business of discovering and developing drugs.

  The second edition has a new editor: Professor Raymond Hill ● non-executive director of Addex Pharmaceuticals, Covagen and of Orexo AB ● Visiting Industrial Professor of Pharmacology in the University of Bristol ● Visiting Professor in the School of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Surrey ● Visiting Professor in Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Strathclyde ● President and Chair of the Council of the British Pharmacological Society ● member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs.

  New to this edition:

  • Completely rewritten chapter on The Role of Medicinal Chemistry in the Drug Discovery Process.
  • New topic - DMPK Optimization Strategy in drug discovery.
  • New chapter on Scaffolds: Small globular proteins as antibody substitutes.
  • Totally updated chapters on Intellectual Property and Marketing
  • 50 new illustrations in full colour

  Features

  • Accessible, general guide to pharmaceutical research and development.
  • Examines the interfaces between cost and social benefit, quality control and mass production, regulatory bodies, patent management, and all interdisciplinary intersections essential to effective drug development.
  • Written by a strong team of scientists with long experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
  • Solid overview of all the steps from lab bench to market in an easy-to-understand way which will be accessible to non-specialists.

  From customer reviews of the previous edition:

  ‘… it will have everything you need to know on this module. Deeply referenced and, thus, deeply reliable.

  • Highly Commended in the medicine category of the BMA 2006 medical book competition
  • Winner of the Royal Society of Medicine Library Prize for Medical Book of the Year