Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comPfizer says patient died in oral RA drug study
Seeded on Fri Apr 22, 2011 10:18 AM EDT (msnbc.com)
— Filed under: health
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Those are some serious side effects listed. While most medications have side effects, we seem to be accepting more serious reactions than we used to. I'd like to think technology would not only increase the type and efficiency of drugs used to treat diseases, but also decrease the type and severity of side-effects that accompany the use of these drugs.
When working with an auto-immune disease a different approach may be required to produce a new type of drug that does not endanger the body more than it's own disease process does. Perhaps drug companies could stop looking for new medications achieved by simply altering existing molecular compositions and try coming up with new compounds that have not been used before?
A totally new concept may open up a new class of drugs with unlimited potential for treating diseases.
Jessix
Blah blah blah......your post is just posturing......
Agreed with the poster above, the original comment represents a very mis-informed view of drug discovery. For small molecule, which has been the staple of R&D for decades, a company may start with 10,000 or more compounds and narrow them down to one final product through years of expensive development costs (close to 10 years and $1billion). Many of the starting compounds are discovered in academia without any knowledge of how to translate the discovery into a real product.
The new class of drugs that you alluded to, which many including myself believe have "unlimited" potential (well not quite unlimited, but great potential), are the biologics...which are fairly new to pharma. This is why many pharma companies have begun acquiring biotech companies...fill their pipelines with late-stage proven biologics and bring them to market. It's a new model which is catching on and will make some profound changes to medicine within the next 5-10 years. New treatments with improved efficacy are just around the corner!
They have been "just around the corner" for about 15 years.
Once again Legalize Marijuana, it will do way more good than any of these drugs they are trying to create and it doesnt take 1000 hours of research to create.
No new concept needed just use the plant that has been used for 1000's of years.
weed can calm symptoms in some people, but RA is a serious autoimmune disease and you need to stop the immune system from attacking. weed hasnt been shown to do that.
using marajuana to control pain and nausea for some diseases? sure. but people can die from their own immune system in these diseases.
One of the acknowledged side effects is increased cholesterol levels ... and the heart attack death is "not drug related"?
The risk wouldn't stop me from volunteering for a trial. RA has me looking at death in a much less scary light.