Science, Art and Drug Discovery
Drug discovery is big business. The HSCIC report Prescriptions Dispensed in the Community, England 2004 – 2014, found that the total net ingredient cost of prescriptions dispensed in 2014 reached £8.9 billion. It follows that the discovery and development of new drugs to the market is a carefully guarded process, with potential healthcare benefits and profits reaching into billions of dollars each year.
Indeed, in this lecture Sir Simon Campbell will outline the many challenges of drug discovery, design and development. He will illustrate the importance of multidisciplinary teams, challenges that arise and factors that influence key decisions through his experience with NorvascTM (amlopidpine) and Viagra (sildenafil). Amlodipine is a calcium-channel blocker used to treat conditions such as high blood pressure and chest pain. There were over 24 million items of this drug dispensed in England in 2014. At the beginning of the research programme that lead to its discovery, there were over 90 published patents around the parent structure that posed a significant challenge for drug design. Sildenafil, on the other hand, the drug that become the first oral treatment for male erectile dysfunction, was born out of a research programme for cardiovascular disease. There were over 1.7 million prescriptions dispensed for this drug in England in 2014.
This lecture will give fascinating insight into a world where key decisions, chance opportunities and creative design can lead to healthcare products that treat millions of people around the world.
Drug discovery is big business. The HSCIC report Prescriptions Dispensed in the Community, England 2004 – 2014, found that the total net ingredient cost of prescriptions dispensed in 2014 reached £8.9 billion. It follows that the discovery and development of new drugs to the market is a carefully guarded process, with potential healthcare benefits and profits reaching into billions of dollars each year.
Indeed, in this lecture Sir Simon Campbell will outline the many challenges of drug discovery, design and development. He will illustrate the importance of multidisciplinary teams, challenges that arise and factors that influence key decisions through his experience with NorvascTM (amlopidpine) and Viagra (sildenafil). Amlodipine is a calcium-channel blocker used to treat conditions such as high blood pressure and chest pain. There were over 24 million items of this drug dispensed in England in 2014. At the beginning of the research programme that lead to its discovery, there were over 90 published patents around the parent structure that posed a significant challenge for drug design. Sildenafil, on the other hand, the drug that become the first oral treatment for male erectile dysfunction, was born out of a research programme for cardiovascular disease. There were over 1.7 million prescriptions dispensed for this drug in England in 2014.
This lecture will give fascinating insight into a world where key decisions, chance opportunities and creative design can lead to healthcare products that treat millions of people around the world.
