Only around 10% of new drugs in development make it onto the market. A drug needs to go through animal trials, and then four phases of human trials to be deemed suitable for use in patients.
Randomisation is the only commonly accepted method of ensuring an unbiased estimate of the treatment effect.
The Conversation/Wes Mountain
A randomised controlled trial is the best way to compare a new treatment with the standard treatment. And randomising trial participants is a core feature of the experiment.
3D bioprinted channel, representing a blood vessel within a hydrogel that mimics human tissue.
Forget, Heiny, Derme, Mitterberger, Shastri
Researchers are finding medical uses for some molecules in certain street drugs, but it’s important to call the drugs by their real names. Here’s why that’s important.
Finding the way from lab bench to patent office can be hard.
anyaivanova/Shutterstock.com
Australia has never been short of inventors, scientists aren’t always at home in the ruthless world of commerce. But if they can be given a helping hand, it could help the entire economy.
Success in human drug development is painfully low.
from shutterstock.com
Paul Maruff, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
News reports this week hailing a breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research, saying a vaccine for the disease is a few years away, have raised hopes for many. But let’s take a step back from the headlines.
Many venoms contain bioactive components that are so stable to the body’s enzymes and selective of their biological target that they’re increasingly being used as novel research tools.
Thalidomide was initially marketed for daytime use, first as a flu treatment, then as ain aid to reduce stress and anxiety.
1950sUnlimited/Flickr
Thalidomide caused thousands of spontaneous abortions and left more than 10,000 children severely disabled. What guarantee is there that the same thing can’t occur again today?
The goal is to grow and activate drugs by a process as simple as making tea.
wiredforlego/Flickr
This project offers the tantalising possibility that plants containing drugs, such as agents to treat HIV, could be farmed on a small scale at low cost by communities that need them most.
A deadly meeting? The potentially lethal viper, Echis carinatus.
Shantanu Kuveskar
You may not have heard of the protein lubricin, but it’s what keeps your body moving. And now it’s being used to treat disease and produce new therapeutics.