August 8, 2019
antibiotics

Innovations in Antibiotics – Hope or Too Little Too Late?

A brief history Even though Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic penicillin in 1928, it was introduced into the market as a commercial therapeutic for bacterial infection, only in 1940. It was Gerhard Domaghk who developed the first commercial antibacterial Prontosil, a sulfonamide, in 1930s. The introduction of penicillin marked […]
July 19, 2019
Repurposing

Old wine in a new bottle? Introduction to Drug Repurposing

Translating a discovery in biology to a marketable medical breakthrough is a long drawn, tedious, high-investment, and high-risk process. Drug repurposing / repositioning has turned into a popular strategy of late. Not quite the same as traditional drug development techniques, the strategy is productive, affordable and is associated with reduced […]
July 18, 2019
marijuna

From ‘Weed rush’ to a ‘Pot of Gold’ – Medical Marijuana and the Pharma Industry

    The story back then… Cannabis’ (Marijuana) use as medicine dates back to 4000 BC in China. During the 19th century and till early 20th century, marijuana was used globally, to treat various illnesses such as migraine, neuropathic pain, musculoskeletal pain and in childbirth.2 In Canada, cannabis was added […]
June 28, 2019
Clinical_Research

Oncology Clinical Research – A holy Grail or a Mine Field?

Oncology R&D investment has been consistently increasing. A case in point: Of the 65000 trials registered on clinicatrials.gov, there are approx. 19000 product related ongoing trials. It´s noteworthy that a trial´s probability of success hasn´t increased over the years i.e. most of these trials face a higher risk of failure […]