Pharma Blog Watch

Developing Cheaper Drugs (Health Business Blog)
In his blog, David Williams discusses UK news reports about the invention of a way to alter existing drugs to create a new, less expensive drug to treat hepatitis C.

"The professors aren't exactly the first to tweak existing drugs," he writes. "That's how companies like Sepracor make their living and it's one way 'me-too' drugs are introduced within a class. Maybe the professors have a technological breakthrough on their hands. If so, can they repeat it for other drugs? On the other hand, will they be sued successfully for patent infringement if the improvement isn't significant enough?"

"I wish this drug well but I don't think it will change the industry."

New Method Not So New (DrugWonks)
In his entry, Robert Goldberg also discusses news reports about a way to develop cheaper drugs. "The pegylation process that Professor Sunil Shaunak from the Hammersmith campus of Imperial College London and Professor Steve Brocchini from the London School of Pharmacy have developed is novel but not new. Pegylation is the process of attaching a large sugar molecule to a protein so it is harder to breakdown. In essence, a little less medicine goes a longer way."

"This is great for monoclonal antibodies but not much else. In any event, the firm is now partnering with an Indian company whose product has been approved in India but nowhere else to make a more cost-effective product," he writes. "Will it be more cost-effective or cheaper compared to other interferons? It might be."

"But let's be clear. This is not the Holy Grail for drug discovery and development the Guardian makes it out to be."