Better Understanding of Arthritis Leading to New Drugs To Treat It
STEPHEN C. STINSON · Chemical & Engineering News · 1989
Understanding of the immune system and progress in the methods of biotechnology have brought medicinal chemists to the threshold of a new generation of compounds to treat rheumatoid disease. As a product category, rheumatoid drugs are thus poised to generate increased sales and earnings for their developers owing to introduction of more effective, patent-protected biological and synthetic organic agents. But drug companies face a treacherously shifting marketing climate today and into the 1990s in so-called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). These drugs are the most numerous, most widely used, and best selling of the category. In one development, patents are expiring one after another, leading to competition of new generic versions against established branded drugs. Although doctors' and patients' confidences may have been shaken by recent reports of corruption and sloppy record keeping in tests and approvals of some generic drugs, no NSAID has been implicated. In another development, the Food & Drug Administration has approved ...