Sir
We read with interest your Business story “Merck opts for shake-up to clear drug pipeline” (Nature 438, 1076–1077; 2005), which concluded with the thought-provoking quote by an industry analyst: “Merck is good for the pharmaceutical industry. You can't make me-too drugs unless you have someone to copy.”
We were drawn to this statement since your story focuses on Merck's anti-nausea drug Emend, without pointing out that Emend itself could be considered a drug based on incremental scientific advance. Merck scientists Malcolm MacCoss and Thomas Baillie, discussing the history of Emend (Science 303, 1810–1813; 2004), trace its direct lineage to the publication of the discovery of non-peptidic substance P antagonists (R. Snider et al. Science 251, 435–437; 1991).
Our view, as three of the co-authors of the 1991 paper, is that the world needs a healthy and innovative pharmaceutical industry and that, as such, we are all good for each other.
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Spencer, R., Longo, K. & Lowe, J. What goes around comes around in drug discovery. Nature 439, 912 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/439912d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/439912d
