Deciding priorities in Pharma

Maria Koehler

doi:10.1186/bcr2750

Abstract

Deciding priorities in Pharma

Highlights

It is commonly assumed that the primary objective of Pharma is to generate and maximize profit to shareholders rather than to serve humanity by the prevention and cure of disease and furthering science
I assert to you today, that because of the rapid advances in genomics, imaging, and tumor cell biology, Pharma’s priorities are more closely aligned with those of academia than ever before
While somatic genetic alterations in the tumor are the primary determinant of response to targeted therapy, multiple somatic genetic abnormalities are present in each tumor so both finding the critical mutations and proving that these were driving tumorigenesis was and remains challenging

Summary

Introduction

It is commonly assumed that the primary objective of Pharma is to generate and maximize profit to shareholders rather than to serve humanity by the prevention and cure of disease and furthering science. Every effective targeted agent has a biomarker that can predict response. While somatic genetic alterations in the tumor are the primary determinant of response to targeted therapy, multiple somatic genetic abnormalities are present in each tumor so both finding the critical mutations and proving that these were driving tumorigenesis was and remains challenging.

Results

Conclusion