Table of contents
May 2006 Vol 5 No 5
In This Issue
p357 | doi:10.1038/nrd2047
Editorial: Mind the gap
p359 | doi:10.1038/nrd2051
News and Analysis
News
German firms resort to consolidation to restore glory days | PDF (244 KB)
p361 | doi:10.1038/nrd2048
News
Chemistry outsourcing going global | PDF (244 KB)
p362 | doi:10.1038/nrd2049
News in Brief
UK trial disaster could spell trouble for industry | Vioxx case giving mixed signals for Merck | Serono forced to change strategy | Generics companies go shopping in Europe | Study challenges HRT link with breast cancer | Biogenerics battle heats up | Outcry over move to approve treatments earlier | PDF (300 KB)
p364 | doi:10.1038/nrd2050
Patent watch
Injunctions in the balance | More leeway for patent extensions | Cytokine inhibitor patents | PDF (101 KB)
p366 | doi:10.1038/nrd2054
Career Path
Frank L. Douglas | PDF (74 KB)
p368 | doi:10.1038/nrd2053
From the analyst's couch
Anti-obesity therapies | PDF (161 KB)
p369 | doi:10.1038/nrd2037
Fresh from the Pipeline
Inhaled human insulin | PDF (114 KB)
p371 | doi:10.1038/nrd2052
Research Highlights
RNA interference: Breakthrough for systemic RNAi | PDF (90 KB)
p373 | doi:10.1038/nrd2041
Steroid hormones: Unravelling oestrogen signalling | PDF (79 KB)
p374 | doi:10.1038/nrd2042
Screening: Finding cancer's Achilles' heel | PDF (153 KB)
p374 | doi:10.1038/nrd2044
Infectious diseases: New routes to antimalarials? | PDF (107 KB)
p375 | doi:10.1038/nrd2043
Inflammatory disorders: Cortistatin to the rescue | PDF (70 KB)
p376 | doi:10.1038/nrd2045
In brief
Asthma | Drug delivery | Drug design | Alzheimer's disease | PDF (64 KB)
p376 | doi:10.1038/nrd2046
Perspectives
Essay
Integrative pharmacology and drug discovery — is the tide finally turning?
Michael G. Collis
p377 | doi:10.1038/nrd2036
Expertise in integrative in vivo pharmacology has been dwindling for several years. Michael Collis looks at recent initiatives to address the current skills deficit in academia and industry by providing funding for education and practical experience in this crucial discipline.
Outlook
Rx-to-OTC switches: trends and factors underlying success
Laura A. Mahecha
p380 | doi:10.1038/nrd2028
Companies can decide to pursue switches from prescription (Rx) to over-the-counter (OTC) status for their drugs for various reasons, such as life-cycle management. Mahecha examines the rationale behind switches, the switch process and case studies of switches in the United States to understand the factors for success and anticipate future trends.
Reviews
Finding function in novel targets: C. elegans as a model organism
Titus Kaletta & Michael O. Hengartner
p387 | doi:10.1038/nrd2031
The simplicity and cost effectiveness of C. elegans has made it an attractive model organism for high-throughput screening and validation of genomics-derived targets. Kaletta and Hengartner review how this simple nematode can be used in various stages of drug discovery.
MIF: a new cytokine link between rheumatoid arthritis and atherosclerosis
Eric F. Morand, Michelle Leech & Jürgen Bernhagen
p399 | doi:10.1038/nrd2029
Morand and colleagues review the validation of macrophage migration inhibitory factor as a therapeutic target in atherosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, and explore how emerging small-molecule inhibitors could address a possible mechanistic link between these diseases.
A role for fMRI in optimizing CNS drug development
David Borsook, Lino Becerra & Richard Hargreaves
p411 | doi:10.1038/nrd2027
fMRI is a relatively new technology that is now being evaluated for use in drug development. This has generated significant interest from biotech and pharmaceutical companies wishing to decrease the risk of drug development. Borsook et al. examine the potential use of fMRI as a tool to integrate drug development and optimize clinical development and later stage clinical trials.
Therapeutic implications of the gender-specific aspects of cardiovascular disease
Vera Regitz-Zagrosek
p425 | doi:10.1038/nrd2032
Gender-specific differences in cardiovascular diseases are likely to become more important in therapeutic decisions regarding cardiovascular drug design and development. Regitz-Zagrosek reviews gender-specific differences in the most frequent cardiovascular diseases, and discusses the implications of gender-specific effects of current cardiovascular drugs.
