The View From Here

Esther Schmid

New directions for R&D strategy?

Groundbreaking advances in biomedical sciences from "in silico" to "omics" are influencing today’s R&D strategies and could provide solutions to the continuing challenge of reducing cost and failure rates. In this issue of Editor’s Choice we present a limited selection of new technologies that could alter traditional R&D processes:

• IT/knowledge management and “in silico” modelling
• RNA interference and transgenic animals for target identification and validation
• High throughput screening and structural biology to identify leads
• Biomarkers in toxicology and clinical research

Which of the many new developments will eventually prove successful either as enablers of the R&D process or as therapeutic modalities in their own right (as therapeutic antibodies have proven in the recent decade) remains to be seen. What is clear already is that new technologies no longer just affect discovery organisations – major changes are underway in toxicology and to a much larger extent, clinical research.


Esther Schmid, PhD, MBA
Director
Strategic Management Group
Pfizer