Federal Research Center Will Help Develop Medicines

[babylonsister]

Thinking outside the box; I like it!


Federal Research Center Will Help Develop Medicines
By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: January 22, 2011



The Obama administration has become so concerned about the slowing pace of new drugs coming out of the pharmaceutical industry that officials have decided to start a billion-dollar government drug development center to help create medicines.

Creating a drug development center is a signature effort of Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.

The new effort comes as many large drug makers, unable to find enough new drugs, are paring back research. Promising discoveries in illnesses like depression and Parkinson’s that once would have led to clinical trials are instead going unexplored because companies have neither the will nor the resources to undertake the effort.

snip//

Whether the government can succeed where private industry has failed is uncertain, officials acknowledge, but they say doing nothing is not an option. The health and human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, sent a letter to Congress on Jan. 14 outlining the plan to open the new drug center by October — an unusually rapid turnaround for an idea first released with little fanfare in December.

Creating the center is a signature effort of Dr. Collins, who once directed the agency’s Human Genome Project. Dr. Collins has been predicting for years that gene sequencing will lead to a vast array of new treatments, but years of effort and tens of billions of dollars in financing by drug makers in gene-related research has largely been a bust.

As a result, industry has become far less willing to follow the latest genetic advances with expensive clinical trials. Rather than wait longer, Dr. Collins has decided that the government can start the work itself.

snip//

Under the plan, more than $700 million in research projects already under way at various institutes and centers would be brought together at the new center. But officials hope that the prospect of finding new drugs will lure Congress into increasing the center’s financing well beyond $1 billion.

more...


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/health/policy/23drug.html?ref=todayspaper

[jaxx]

1. I like it too.

We should have been doing this all along.

[Vinca]

2. The question is, will big pharma end up cashing in without

having to put up any money for research? I hope not.

[FreakinDJ]

3. Depends who owns the patent rights

If it is proportional to the amount vested in the specific research then they will

[mopinko]

4. awesome idea.

hope it goes well. i can see it becoming a self funded agency that supplies new treatments at a reasonable price. all good as far as i can see. big pharma can manufacture the drugs and pay for the rights through their noses.

[babylonsister]

9. I agree, despite naysayers. I hope this is fruitful. nt

[great white snark]

5. Excellent! Good luck Dr. Collins.

[elleng]

6. Posted and discussed yesterday. I agree good thing.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x253576

[loudsue]

7. They don't have the RESOURCES??? They're making more money than God!!!

This is such BULLSHIT!!!

We need some laws to stop companies from paying their CEO's and highest management such obscene salaries. It drains the productivity into the hands of a few crooks who kill people, and I'm sick of it.

[Pirate Smile]

8. If they aren't doing the research because they can't be sure of the eventual profit then who makes

sure the research gets done?

They have decreased the amount of research they are currently doing. That is obviously not good for the possibilities of future advancements. The real interesting fight will be what happens with new drug discoveries and patents.