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With US$1.1 billion now allocated for comparative effectiveness research in the United States, a key question is how to use this opportunity to develop a better model for the assessment of health-care value.
The successful reprogramming of adult cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells without viral vectors adds to the excitement about the application of iPS cells in drug discovery and development.
Although the potential of 'personalized medicine' to increase the quality of clinical care and decrease health-care costs has been recognized for many years, only a handful of associated diagnostic tests have made it to market so far, with mixed success. This article proposes that the major challenges to the further adoption of personalized medicine are increasingly related to economics, and discusses strategies that could help address these challenges.
Large-scale generation and integration of genomic, proteomic and metabolomic data are increasingly allowing the construction of complex networks that provide a new framework for understanding the molecular basis of disease states. This Opinion article highlights how this knowledge could be applied to network-based drug discovery to investigate the impact of interventions — such as candidate drugs — on the molecular networks that define these states, and could ultimately be used to develop improved therapies.
The regulation of endothelia is vital for the maintenance of homeostasis, and their disruption is observed in many disease states. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptors have emerged as reversible modulators of endothelial barriers, which could lead to the development of highly specific, barrier-oriented small-molecule-based therapeutics for treating conditions ranging from multiple sclerosis to acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Thyroid hormone excess has potentially useful effects, including lowering of serum cholesterol and reduction of body fat. However, the therapeutic application of this hormone has so far been hampered by deleterious effects on the heart, muscle and bone. This article reviews recent progress in the development of selective thyroid hormone mimetics that seem to lack the adverse actions associated with thyroid hormone itself, making them a promising new strategy for the treatment of atherosclerosis, obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Scholich and colleagues highlight how an increased knowledge of the physiological functions of different mammalian adenylyl cyclases, combined with advances in the development of isoform-selective adenylyl cyclase modulators indicates that these enzymes could be useful drug targets.
