Cancer immunotherapy: Microbes matter
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 16 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.265
Author: Anna Dart
Preclinical mouse models have shown that the gut microbiome can modulate therapeutic responses to cancer therapies. Yet, this has not been extensively characterized in humans. Two studies now propose that the gut microbiome is an important host factor that determines the response and primary resistance (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Anna Dart Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Sean Harper
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 10 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.262
Amgen bought deCODE genetics for US$415 million in December 2012, with a plan to ramp up their use of human genetic data in drug discovery and development. This deal has since transformed Amgen's pipeline, says Amgen Chief Scientific Officer Sean Harper. A treasure trove of genetic data from more than 160,000 Icelanders now informs everything from target selection to clinical trial design. Genetic insights, sequencing capabilities and analytical expertise have helped the company to avoid costly failures, prosecute programmes more effectively ...
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
Sage gets an antidepressant lift
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 7 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.270
Author: Asher Mullard
Sage Therapeutics' lead antidepressant brexanolone generated positive results in two phase III trials for postpartum depression, and a next-generation candidate with similar properties passed a smaller phase II trial for major depressive disorder.Brexanolone is an intravenous formulation of the steroid allopregnanolone, which is thought (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
Boehringer Ingelheim experiments with open-access chemical probes
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 7 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.269
Author: Asher Mullard
Boehringer Ingelheim launched a platform to share well-characterized preclinical compounds with the biomedical community. These can be used as probes to explore mechanistic and phenotypic biology.The company is currently offering nearly 20 molecular probes through its opnME portal for free, without intellectual property (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
First in vivo gene-editing drugs enter the clinic
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 7 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.268
Author: Asher Mullard
Sangamo Therapeutics has started dosing patients with gene-editing drugs that are administered directly into the blood.Sangamo's zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) are enzymes that selectively bind, cleave and enable the directed repair of DNA to knock genes both in and out of patient genomes. In (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
The evolving paradigm of cancer trials
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 225 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.210
Author: Shivaani Kummar
The development of anticancer therapies is evolving with the advent of novel targeted drugs. In this Comment, I summarize some of the key changes and discuss the various choices for the optimal development of a new generation of cancer therapeutics. (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 22, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Shivaani Kummar Tags: Comment Source Type: research
A dynamic map for learning, communicating, navigating and improving therapeutic development
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 150 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.217
Authors: John Wagner, Andrew M. Dahlem, Lynn D. Hudson, Sharon F. Terry, Russ B. Altman, C. Taylor Gilliland, Christopher DeFeo & Christopher P. Austin
Drug discovery and development is a highly challenging process (Nat. Rev. Drug Discov.9, 203–214; 2010). Its common characterization as a 'pipeline' connotes consistent unidirectional flow of a candidate therapeutic in unchanged form from basic research discovery to (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 22, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: John Wagner Andrew M. Dahlem Lynn D. Hudson Sharon F. Terry Russ B. Altman C. Taylor Gilliland Christopher DeFeo Christopher P. Austin Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research
Regulatory policy for the development of targeted therapies for low-frequency molecular subtypes of disease
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 79 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.231
Authors: Robert N. Schuck, Michael Pacanowski, Janet Woodcock & Issam Zineh
Numerous challenges arise when developing targeted therapies for diseases comprising low-frequency molecular subtypes. In this article, we describe a pragmatic, science-based regulatory policy for the development and approval of targeted therapies in such cases. (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 22, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Robert N. Schuck Michael Pacanowski Janet Woodcock Issam Zineh Tags: Comment Source Type: research
Addressing challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of rare genetic diseases
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 151 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.246
Authors: Kym M. Boycott & Diego Ardigó
The past 5 years have seen an unprecedented rate of discovery of genes that cause rare diseases and with it a commensurate increase in the number of diagnosable but nevertheless untreatable disorders. Here, we discuss the increasing opportunity for diagnosis and therapy of rare diseases (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 15, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Kym M. Boycott Diego Ardig รณ Tags: Comment Source Type: research
Automating drug discovery
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 97 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.232
Author: Gisbert Schneider
Small-molecule drug discovery can be viewed as a challenging multidimensional problem in which various characteristics of compounds — including efficacy, pharmacokinetics and safety — need to be optimized in parallel to provide drug candidates. Recent advances in areas such as microfluidics-assisted chemical synthesis and biological (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 15, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Gisbert Schneider Tags: Perspectives Source Type: research
Mechanistic enzymology in drug discovery: a fresh perspective
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 78 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.257
Author: Geoffrey A. Holdgate, Thomas D. Meek & Rachel L. Grimley
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 10.1038/nrd.2017.219 (2017)In the affiliations of this article, the address provided for Discovery Sciences, IMED Biotech Unit, AstraZeneca was incorrect and should be Building 310, Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0WG, UK.The article has (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 15, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Geoffrey A. Holdgate Thomas D. Meek Rachel L. Grimley Tags: Erratum Source Type: research
Drug discovery effectiveness from the standpoint of therapeutic mechanisms and indications
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 78 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.255
Author: Hsin-Pei Shih, Xiaodan Zhang & Alex M. Aronov
Nature Reviews Drug Dicovery, 10.1038/nrd.2017.194 (2017)In Figure 3c of this article, the labels for the mechanisms were misplaced. The article has been corrected in the print and online version. (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 15, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Hsin-Pei Shih Xiaodan Zhang Alex M. Aronov Tags: Corrigendum Source Type: research
Cancer Immunotherapy: The right shape
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 18 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.256
Author: M. Teresa Villanueva
Targeting antigens expressed specifically on the cell surface of cancer cells with monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)–expressing T cells has become a successful approach in cancer therapy. Most of the cancer-specific antigens shared by multiple tumours are likely to have already been (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 15, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: M. Teresa Villanueva Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Infectious disease: Blocking malaria parasite invasion and egress
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 17 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.253
Author: Sarah Crunkhorn
Growing resistance of the malaria-transmitting parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, to existing therapies has increased the need for new therapeutic approaches. Two new papers in Science now report vital roles for plasmepsins IX and X (PMIX and PMX) in P. falciparum invasion and egress (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 15, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Sarah Crunkhorn Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Cancer: Strategies for mature T cell cancers
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 15 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.254
Author: Megan Cully
Cancers of mature T cells, such as T cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), are aggressive and resistant to treatment. Two new papers provide insight into the future treatment of mature T cell cancers. Wartewig and colleagues demonstrate that PDCD1, which encodes programmed cell death protein (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - December 15, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Megan Cully Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
