Drug research--whence and whither.

Abstract

The past thirty-five years have seen a dramatic change in the search for new drugs and in the therapeutic armamentarium of the physician. One of the major factors in this change has been the pharmaceutical industry. Its research laboratories with their multidiscipline approach have become a full-fledged partner in medical research. So potent has this force become that it has brought us to a situation where the criticism is ‘too many drugs’. It is estimated that 90% of present prescriptions are for drugs unknown 15 years ago. Those of us who have participated in this productive era are proud of these accomplishments. That many of these developments have captured the popular press alongside atomic fission and space travel has only served to strengthen our views of their importance, while the more recent assessments by regulatory agencies have, in our view, not detracted from the significance of our research achievements and capacities.