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Despite high safety hurdles and a history of failure in the field, some drug firms remain cautiously optimistic for the next wave of experimental anti-obesity agents.
Implicit in criticism of 'follow on' or 'me too' drugs is the idea that their development occurs after a first-in-class drug has made it to market and proved commercially successful. Using analysis of development and patent filing histories of entrants to new drug classes in the past five decades, this article provides new evidence that the development of multiple new drugs in a given class is better characterized as a race, rather than the imitation of successful products.
The ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS) and ubiquitin-like protein (UBL) conjugation pathways are integral to cellular protein homeostasis, and their functional importance in various diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative disorders, is now beginning to emerge. Brownell and colleagues review developments in understanding of the role of the components of the UPS and the UBL pathways in disease and their potential for therapeutic intervention.
Many G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are involved in the initiation and/or progression of cancer. Here, the authors discuss recent advances regarding the involvement of GPCRs in cancer and address the implications of these findings towards the discovery of innovative drug targets for cancer prevention and treatment.
The anticoagulant rivaroxaban is the first approved direct inhibitor of the serine protease factor Xa. This article presents the history of rivaroxaban's development, from its discovery to the preclinical and clinical studies, and also provides a brief overview of other oral anticoagulants in advanced clinical development.
