Volume 5 Issue 4, April 2006

Experience in clinic is raising issues that Western researchers will not have seen before

FDA's Critical Path Initiative needs industry resources to succeed

Prior studies have suggested that late market entrants within a drug class frequently outperform first entrants. This idea and the general relationship between entry order and quality attributes are explored by Cohen, with a focus on the implications for innovation strategies.

The metabolic syndrome — a collection of factors associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes — is becoming increasingly common. Grundy summarizes the current understanding of the nature of the metabolic syndrome, and discusses each of the risk factors of the metabolic syndrome as possible drug targets.

Multiplexed protein measurement is being established in applications such as comprehensive proteomic surveys, validation of genomic discoveries and clinical biomarker development. Kingsmore describes current and emerging multiplexed protein-measurement technologies and their applications, and discusses the challenges in this field.

Lipid II is an essential component of bacterial cell-wall biosynthesis, and as such is an attractive therapeutic target. Breukink and de Kruijff review the modes of action of compounds targeting Lipid II, and discuss their potential as treatments to combat bacterial infections.

The worldwide incidence of type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions. More effective pharmaceutical options for the treatment of this devastating and costly disease are urgently needed. Dan Lazar and Alan Saltiel examine the exciting possibility that lipid phosphatases might provide a novel class of drug discovery targets for type 2 diabetes.

Advances in cellular imaging technology mean that we can now measure multiple cellular parameters at high resolution at subcellular, single-cell or cell-population level. Langet al. discuss the potential applications of this technology to drug R&D.