The last two Map of Biomedicine blog posts have introduced us to the clinical trial process. Clinical trials are the gold standard for determining whether a drug works, and are extremely important to make sure that drugs are only used in situations when they are known to help.
Read MoreTags: clinical trials, map of biomedicine, drugs, off label
In my last Map of Biomedicine blog post, I talked about the different phases of clinical trials and a little bit about how trials are structured. I mentioned that trial is really just an experiment designed to test a hypothesis. When you studied science in school you learned about the scientific method:
Read MoreTags: clinical trials, personalized medicine, map of biomedicine, genes, drugs
The newest installments in the Map of Biomedicine blog posts take us down the routes that get drugs to patients, primarily in the United States. Of course, we are all patients at one time or other regardless of where we live. Without a doubt, the route to getting effective therapies from the lab to your local pharmacist is convoluted and expensive even if you live in a wealthy nation. If you don't, making the most effective treatments available to the people who need them most in middle- and low-income nations is more difficult.
Read MoreTags: map of biomedicine, drug development, drugs, World Health Oranization
In my Map of Biomedicine blog posts, so far, I’ve focused on how diagnostics get to market. But you may recall that way back in my first post I discussed the major themes of the map - what I called ‘vignettes’. The first vignette was the development of diagnostic tests, which is what I’ve focused on so far. Those blog posts are being collected and expanded in an e-book which will be released soon, so keep an eye out for that.
Read MoreTags: personalized medicine, biomedicine, map of biomedicine, drugs
A couple of weeks ago, we blogged about the strides being made to combat melanomas by releasing the brakes on the immune system. Last week, the FDA approved Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo (nivolumab), an immunotherapy drug that has had dramatic results in lengthening the lives of patients with some late-stage melanomas.
Read MoreTags: cancer, clinical trials, immunotherapy, drugs
Drug development is a long, expensive process with a very high failure rate. In a 2011 commentary in the journal Science Translational Medicine, NIH director Francis Collins described it like this:
Read MoreTags: clinical trials, drug development, drugs
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