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Drugs are hard
May. 14th, 2009 05:18 pmTo provide some context, the commonly quoted figure for developing a drug is $500 million. One drug. One study in 2003 which excluded derivatives of known drugs found a number of $800 million.
There exist drugs which have had more than $1 billion dollars spent on their development.
There are something like 20,000 human genes. Only a fraction of those are "druggable", meaning a small organic molecule in the bloodstream can affect them (without killing the person). Most developed drugs target the same small group of proteins (G-protein coupled receptors, protein kinases, ligand-gated ion channels, voltage-gated ion channels and nuclear hormone receptors).
Now, biologicals are another beast entirely. These are "drugs" that are proteins (insulin, for example). They have to be injected (or perhaps inhaled). Antibodies (monoclonal antibodies) are in this catergory. These are easier, in theory, make whatever the disease is lacking. But only a few have panned out so far.
There exist drugs which have had more than $1 billion dollars spent on their development.
There are something like 20,000 human genes. Only a fraction of those are "druggable", meaning a small organic molecule in the bloodstream can affect them (without killing the person). Most developed drugs target the same small group of proteins (G-protein coupled receptors, protein kinases, ligand-gated ion channels, voltage-gated ion channels and nuclear hormone receptors).
Now, biologicals are another beast entirely. These are "drugs" that are proteins (insulin, for example). They have to be injected (or perhaps inhaled). Antibodies (monoclonal antibodies) are in this catergory. These are easier, in theory, make whatever the disease is lacking. But only a few have panned out so far.
