Molecular Diagnostics


References 1 FDA Critical Path Opportunities Report March 2006. 2 European Union Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013). 3 Reichert, JM and Wenger, JB (2008). Development trends for new cancer therapeutics and vaccines. Drug Discovery Today 13:30. 4 http://blogs.forbes.com/ robertlangreth/2010/08/06/why -pfizer-cant-cure-cancer/.


will exclude patients from new drugs. He argues that the paradigm of targeted therapy is inherently flawed and it may be time to go back to the begin- ning: more resource should be invested into early detection by imaging and improved surgical tech- niques. Perhaps it is time to shift emphasis from treatment to true diagnostics. The technology is available, with NGS and mass-spec leading the way, however diagnostics development needs further incentivising at the academic and research level. Pharmas are not about to drop research on target- ed drugs in favour of diagnostic tests, I suspect the economics do not work, and drugs will always be needed in any case. Perhaps a change in perspective is called for.


DDW


Dr Cliff Murray is currently Head of R&D at Source Bioscience plc having joined the company in January 2005. Prior to that, he was Reader in Oncology at Nottingham University and Director of the CRUK Tumour Cytokine Biology Group since 1994. The interests of his group included tumour angiogenesis and novel mechanisms employed by tumours to evade the host immune response. Cliff has a BSc in Biochemistry from St Andrews and a PhD in Pathology and Biochemistry from Cambridge.


62 Drug Discovery World Spring 2011


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