Propelling Innovation in New Drugs : Recommendations & Considerations

The past quarter-century has seen tremendous progress in biomedical research, leading to increasing understanding of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other devastating diseases. The Nation has led the world in such progress, due in significant part to wise investments by the Federal Government in basic biomedical research. These breakthroughs are beginning to pay off in terms of new therapies for American patients. Still, the pace of new therapeutic development has not kept up with the explosion in scientific knowledge. The number of novel drugs has remained constant for several decades, even though R&D budgets have substantially increased. This situation poses an increasing challenge for ensuring the creation of innovative therapies for patients and throughout the biomedical ecosystem. This book examines the efforts being made to double over the next decade, the rate of invention of innovative new medicines for patients, while increasing drug safety, in the hopes that these actions will advance the health of Americans, as well as provide economic growth for the Nation.