The Future of Drug Discovery

The Future of Drug Discovery: Who decides which diseases to treat? provides a timely and detailed look at the efforts of the pharmaceutical industry and how they relate, or should relate, to societal needs. The authors posit that as a result of increasing risk aversion and accelerated savings in research and development, the industry is not developing drugs for increasingly prevalent diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, untreatable pain, antibiotics and more. This book carefully exposes the gap between the medicines and therapies we need and the current business path. By analyzing the situation and discussing prospects for the next decade, the The Future of Drug Discovery is a timely book for all those who care about the development needs for drugs for disease. - Provides an in-depth, broad perspective on the crisis in drug industry - Exposes the disconnect between what society needs and what the drug companies are working on - Analyses and projects over 10 years into the future - Explains what it means for scientists and society - Determines what is needed to be done to make sure that the industry responds to society's needs, remains commercially attractive and answers the question as to who decides which diseases to treat

Tamas Bartfai was a student of mathematics, physics, and chemistry before translating his skills into biochemistry, pharmacology and neuroscience. Trained in Stockholm University, Yale University, and The Rockefeller University, he is presently a professor at The Scripps Research Institute, the University Oxford, and the University of Pennsylvania, and an expert in medicinal chemistry and the neurological sciences. He has been working in the development of new medicines and vaccines for many years as a former Sr.VP of Hoffmann La Roche, and long-term consultant at Astra, Novartis and, presently, Pfizer. Eight of the drugs Dr. Bartfai developed are in clinical use and three are in trials. He has trained and collaborated with many scientists throughout his scientific work on the topics of fever, neuropeptides, and prostaglandins, while publishing over 400 articles in over 80 journals. Dr. Bartfai has held many prestigious academic positions. He is a member of Academia Europae and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a fellow of AAAS for pioneering work on neuropeptides, and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Physics. He was professor of the Karolinska Institute, which awards the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. He has been awarded a number of prestigious prizes including E”tv”s Medal for mathematics in 1966, Budapest, Hungary; Royal Swedish Academy's Svedberg Prize for biochemistry in 1985 and Ericsson Prize in 1996; and the Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar Award 2002.