From thalidomide to resveratrol, molecules with the exact same chemical properties can have drastically different effects in the body depending on how they’re arranged in space.
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Articles on Drug development
Displaying 21 - 40 of 107 articles
With the dual threats of antibiotic resistance and emerging pandemics, finding new drugs becomes even more urgent. A trove of medicines may be lying under our nose.
Many approved drugs work on the body in ways that researchers still aren’t entirely clear about. Seeing this as an opportunity instead of a flaw may lead to better treatments for complex conditions.
While pills are more practical than injections or infusions, digestion in the stomach prevents many drugs from being taken orally. Better drug design could change this.
From tablets and patches to ointments and infusions, the best way to deliver a drug is the one that gets the right amount to the right place.
Waiving patent rights on COVID-19 vaccines and drugs is still crucial to ensure access globally, but the waiver on the table at the June World Trade Organization meeting doesn’t do the job.
Cell cultures have shown promise in representing diseases. The Petri dish is not as different from a sick person as one might think.
While technological advancements have quickened the drug discovery process, some chemical compounds remain a common thorn in a researcher’s side.
Drug repurposing can redeem failed treatments and squeeze out new uses from others. But many pharmaceutical companies are hesitant to retool existing drugs without a high return on investment.
Drug development is a long and costly process that often ends in failure. Improving the way potential drug candidates are optimized could help boost success rates.
We’ve made a few mistakes in the past two years, when it comes to developing COVID drugs. Some were obvious and could have easily been avoided.
Substances found in algae, squid and fish all have potential antiviral properties.
If no action is taken to address antibiotic resistance, infections from multidrug-resistant bacteria could cause 10 million deaths each year by 2050.
Ivermectin has been a lifesaving drug for people with parasitic infections like river blindness and strongyloidiasis. But taking it for COVID-19 may result in the opposite effect.
Dave MacMillon and Ben List both developed simple catalysts that make precise chemical reactions much faster and more efficient.
The path to using old drugs for COVID is full of potholes. So why are we using the same old flawed methods when we actually know what works?
Artificial cells on tiny microfluidic chips can provide early insight into how new cancer drugs behave in cells, and why certain kinds of cancer are more resistant to chemotherapy treatment.
‘Orphan drugs’ with high price points are being tested as treatments for COVID-19. There’s a better way to spur low-cost innovation for new drugs.
Whether you are predicting the outcome of an election or studying how effective a new drug is, there will always be some uncertainty. A margin of error is how statisticians measure that uncertainty.
The development of multiple vaccines against the virus that causes COVID-19 has been hailed as the breakthrough of 2020. But there were many more supporting discoveries that made this possible.
Top contributors
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Prof. Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland
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Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
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Associate Professor of History, University of Wollongong
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Biostatistician, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
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Dean of the College of Science, Professor of Biochemistry, Rochester Institute of Technology
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Senior Lecturer Biostatistics and Data Management, The University of Queensland
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Professor of Neuroscience, Lancaster University
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Professor, UNSW Sydney
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Joel Lexchin is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor Emeritus of Health Policy and Management, York University, Canada
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Associate Professor of Biostatistics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
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Director of Natural Product Discovery Core; Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan
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Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Liverpool
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Researcher, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
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Executive General Manager Commercialisation and Research Contracts, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute
