Is Drug Development Too Slow? NIH to the Rescue!

Is Drug Development Too Slow? NIH to the Rescue!The Obama administration has become so concerned about the slowing pace of new drugs coming out of the pharmaceutical industry that officials have decided to start a billion-dollar government drug development center to help create medicines.The job of the new center, to be called the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, is akin to that of a home seller who spruces up properties to attract buyers in a down market.The New York Times, January 22, 2011 (1) There is little doubt that what the taxpayer expects from this investment [in basic research] is the ultimate conquest of disease-specifically those diseases whose names he knows and whose consequences he fears. This may present a simplistic view of the process whereby we translate research into applications but it is the prevailing view in the country and in the Congress.Senator Edward M. Kennedy, 1976 (2) Now to rheumatism: Pare the patient's nails; put the parings in a little bag, and hang the bag round the neck of a live eel, and place him in a tub of water.The eel will die, and the patient will recover.