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Oncology has a higher rate of attrition in clinical development than most other therapeutic areas. Lengauer and colleagues discuss the factors responsible, and suggest strategies to improve the chances of short-term success in the development of novel anticancer drugs.
The therapeutic success of monoclonal antibodies has led to a steep rise in the use of non-human primates for preclinical safety testing. Chapman and colleagues report from a recent workshop on this topic, and discuss the economic, scientific and ethical questions raised by this development.
There is a major need for better therapies for many patients with heart failure, but late-stage clinical failures of several potential drugs have reduced the impetus of drug development in this field. Kaye and Krum review emerging agents and molecular targets for heart failure, and highlight key issues that need to be addressed to improve the chances of successfully developing new drugs.
Being able to predict the individual effects of drugs on different patients in a population could lead to safer, more effective medicines. The authors discuss the development of algorithms that could enable the testing of drugs in virtual patient populations based onin vitrodata.
New therapeutic strategies are needed to improve the cure rate and quality of life in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. In this Review, Pui and Jeha discuss emerging new treatments that could improve the clinical outcome for these patients.
