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 Pipeline
challenges
by David Filmore, Ann M. Thayer, and Randall C. Willis
PDF
version (240 KB PDF)
Views are mixed as to whether current issues around pharmaceutical company pipelines
represent a crisis in R&D or short-term setbacks. Either way, the number of
new drugs being launched is generally considered too small to sustain major companies.
In response, companies are taking a variety of approaches—including reorganization,
changes in R&D management, acquisitions, in-licensing, and the use of new
technologies—to improve the quality and productivity of their drug discovery and
development pipelines. The drug R&D pipelines of the world’s six leading pharmaceutical
companies and the top two biopharmaceutical firms are highlighted.
 Probing
proteins
by Garry Corthals
PDF
version (224 KB PDF)
Mass spectrometry is answering big questions about small molecules. Rapid detection
and quantitation of biological activity can now be performed via powerful tools
that, together with complete genomes, have ushered in a desire for new high-throughput
and highly sensitive technologies to similarly measure proteins. Knowledge of
proteins is important, as they are the mature products of genes and represent
end points of gene expression in studying biological systems. In addition to enhancing
the ability and speed of making protein measurements, analysis must be performed
in a systematic, quantitative, and reproducible manner. Proteomics is the latest
in the series of powerful new approaches that systematically capture molecular
information on a genome- or proteome-wide scale.
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