Nature reviews. Drug discovery
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Nat Rev Drug Discov · Jul 2020
ReviewGrowth of the Asian health-care market: global implications for the pharmaceutical industry.
The global economy is being transformed by an explosion of information unleashed by the internet, the digital revolution, communications and increased international mobility. This transformation is manifesting in many ways, including rapid development of countries such as China, commoditization of public services, mobilization of workforces, shifting of market control from suppliers to consumers, interlinked rises in product demand and customer expectations, and problems regulating international business competition. ⋯ Like other industries, the pharmaceutical industry faces a new array of Asia-specific opportunities and challenges. Success in meeting these challenges will go to those pharmaceutical companies that best understand the unique strengths and constraints of Asia's diverse cultures, talents and markets.
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Optogenetics - the use of light and genetics to manipulate and monitor the activities of defined cell populations - has already had a transformative impact on basic neuroscience research. Now, the conceptual and methodological advances associated with optogenetic approaches are providing fresh momentum to neuroscience drug discovery, particularly in areas that are stalled on the concept of 'fixing the brain chemistry'. Optogenetics is beginning to translate and transit into drug discovery in several key domains, including target discovery, high-throughput screening and novel therapeutic approaches to disease states. Here, we discuss the exciting potential of optogenetic technologies to transform neuroscience drug discovery.
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The number of academic drug discovery centres has grown considerably in recent years, providing new opportunities to couple the curiosity-driven research culture in academia with rigorous preclinical drug discovery practices used in industry. To fully realize the potential of these opportunities, it is important that academic researchers understand the risks inherent in preclinical drug discovery, and that translational research programmes are effectively organized and supported at an institutional level. In this article, we discuss strategies to mitigate risks in several key aspects of preclinical drug discovery at academic drug discovery centres, including organization, target selection, assay design, medicinal chemistry and preclinical pharmacology.
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Nat Rev Drug Discov · Jan 2015
ReviewMuscle wasting in disease: molecular mechanisms and promising therapies.
Atrophy occurs in specific muscles with inactivity (for example, during plaster cast immobilization) or denervation (for example, in patients with spinal cord injuries). Muscle wasting occurs systemically in older people (a condition known as sarcopenia); as a physiological response to fasting or malnutrition; and in many diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, cancer-associated cachexia, diabetes, renal failure, cardiac failure, Cushing syndrome, sepsis, burns and trauma. The rapid loss of muscle mass and strength primarily results from excessive protein breakdown, which is often accompanied by reduced protein synthesis. ⋯ Exercise is the only accepted approach to prevent or slow atrophy. However, several promising therapeutic agents are in development, and major advances in our understanding of the cellular mechanisms that regulate the protein balance in muscle include the identification of several cytokines, particularly myostatin, and a common transcriptional programme that promotes muscle wasting. Here, we discuss these new insights and the rationally designed therapies that are emerging to combat muscle wasting.