This volume provides and educative and authoriative discussions on the drug discovery and development process. It is divided into ten sections and starts with personal recollections on the history and evolution of the drug discovery process.
To illustrate the end result of the drug discovery process, a large chapter reviews the major drug introductions over 1993-2003. Subsequent chapters examine the impact of genomic technologies, new sources of drugs and alternatives to animal testing. The next section reviews the roles of enterprise and pharamaceuticals companies, venture capitalists and academic-industrial relations in the drug discovery process. Social and ethical issues are reviewed in the context of assessing health demands in developed, developing countries and also in relation to smaller scale diseases (orphan drugs).
Two chapters then review the bioethical and ethical issues facing the pharmaceutical industry. The volume concludes with reviews on funding and regulartion and how intellectual property rights and patents are protected. With such a wide variety of topics this volume will appeal to both scientists and non-scientists who need to understand how and why the pharmaceutical industry works.
