A Web Focus is a collection of articles on a related theme drawn from the entire Nature family of journals. With content ranging from Highlights and News & Views articles, to Reviews and primary research papers, a Web Focus provides a panoramic view of a key area of drug discovery and development.

Focus

Diabetes

May

The incidence of type 2 diabetes and associated serious complications continues to grow rapidly. Although several classes of anti-diabetic drugs are available, achieving and maintaining long-term glycaemic control is often challenging, and many current agents have treatment-limiting side effects. So, a significant need for novel anti-diabetic drugs remains. Furthermore, there is a growing appreciation of the potential therapeutic value of agents that could positively affect multiple cardio-metabolic risk factors. This special focus highlights some of the most promising therapeutic targets and investigational drugs for type 2 diabetes and its complications, as well as discussing strategies to tackle the challenges in fulfilling their potential.

Focus

Apoptosis

December

Supported by Genentech, Inc.

Apoptosis, the major form of controlled cell death, has a key role in the pathogenesis of diseases including cancer, inflammation and neurodegenerative disorders. The past decade has witnessed tremendous progress in understanding of the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis regulation, which has revealed a number of highly promising therapeutic targets, particularly for anticancer strategies. This focus provides a cutting-edge overview of the science and business of targeting apoptosis.

Focus

Pain

August

Produced with support from Eli Lilly and Company, which had no control over its content.

Unrelieved pain associated with conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, cancer and serious injury represents a major unmet medical need. With the aim of highlighting approaches to tackling the challenges in this field, this special collection integrates articles that discuss strategies to drive forward analgesic drug development with those that explore new targets for pain therapeutics.

Focus

Antivirals

December

Produced with support from Pfizer (principal sponsor) and Gilead (supporting sponsor)

The emergence of new viral pathogens, the increasing prevalence of chronic viral diseases and the risk of drug resistant viral strains has increased demand for new antiviral strategies. This joint focus with Nature Biotechnology provides an update on the science and business of antiviral R&D, highlighting innovative approaches and lessons learned from three decades of antiviral drug development.

Focus

Antibacterials

December

Produced with support from AstraZeneca and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

This focus was produced in conjunction with Nature Biotechnology and includes a collection of reviews, research highlights, news and views and commentaries covering the science and business of antibacterial drug R&D.

Focus

The molecular pharmacopoeia

December

Produced with support from Pfizer and Inpharmatica

For the past decade, the number of molecular targets for approved drugs has been debated. However, to develop and apply predictive methods to assess the future potential for therapeutic exploitation, the number, characteristics and biological diversity of these targets needs to be established. Here, we provide a comprehensive survey of current drug targets and drugs that modulate them.

Focus

Atherothrombosis

January

Atherothrombosis, the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. As discussed in these articles, recent progress in the understanding of the pathogenesis of atherothrombosis, and in the application of approaches to assess disease progression, has provided new impetus to the discovery and development of novel drugs for this condition.

Focus

Proteomics

March

The collection includes forward-looking perspectives, recent research highlights and an overarching reviews article that gives an insight into the part proteomics is playing in industrial research, starting at the genome and ending with new therapeutic targets for disease.

Focus

Kinases in cancer

We examine the role of kinase signalling in cancer and the potential for developing effective therapies that can modulate various kinase pathways. Following the success of targeted kinase inhibitor therapies such as imatinib and gefitinib this continues to be a fast moving area of research.

Focus

Pharmacogenetics (Updated)

January

This Focus provides a comprehensive collection of articles on the development of pharmacogenetics, covering topics ranging from the latest approaches in pharmacogenetics research to evolving regulatory frameworks and ethical issues