Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Despite increased pharmaceutical investment, few novel molecular entities that address new pain mechanisms have entered the clinic. Dionne and colleagues discuss factors contributing to this lack of innovation and highlight strategies to translate new knowledge into more efficacious and safer treatments.
Alliances are now a key component of the research and development strategies of most major pharmaceutical companies. Jones summarizes recent trends in alliance formation and discuss approaches to minimize risk in alliances, which are growing in importance as alliance activity increases.
Monoclonal antibodies are now established as a key therapeutic modality for a range of diseases, including cancer. Reichert and Valge-Archer overview trends in the development and regulatory approval of anticancer monoclonal antibodies since 1980, with the aim of informing future research and development for this class of therapeutics.
The potential to use clinical biomarkers to better match therapies with specific patient populations — stratified medicine — is anticipated to have a major effect on both clinical practice and the development of new drugs and diagnostics. Trusheim, Berndt and Douglas discuss the implications of this approach to future product development strategies and market structures.
