President Barack Obama last week launched a new initiative to improve the participation and performance of US students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The project, called Educate to Innovate, will include efforts by the federal government, companies, foundations, nonprofits, and science and engineering societies in working with young people to encourage participation and achieve success in STEM. Read more »

In a speech last week to the City Club of San Diego, John Lechleiter, chairman and chief executive officer of Eli Lilly, offered very candid remarks about the state of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, saying that the engine of biopharmaceutical innovation is “broken.” His comments may be a bitter pill to swallow in light of escalating investment in research and development (R&D), but his frankness may just be the remedy the industry needs to reinvent itself. Read more »

This week the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which is the California state body responsible for stem-cell research funding, and two international partners in Canada and the United Kingdom, announced awards totaling $230 million to 14 research teams in California, Canada, and the UK to develop stem-cell-based therapies for 11 diseases. The funding, in the form of four-year grants, marks the first CIRM funding that is explicitly expected to result in filings with the US Food and Drug Administration for initial human clinical testing of therapies based on stem-cell research, according to a CIRM press release. Read more »

The pace of progress in stem-cell research seems to be quickening, and the field’s future looks promising. Last week, a team at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute found what looks like a revolutionary way to create stem cells that could be safe enough to use as treatments in humans. Read more »

When pipelines run dry, pharmaceutical companies are more likely to investigate alternative delivery methods as a way of distinguishing their drugs in the marketplace. In the past few weeks, I’ve noticed several intriguing delivery methods created by researchers around the world. I recently wrote about the new technique of encapsulating medicines in magnetite nanoparticles for repeated, long-term delivery. Along similar lines, scientists at Queen Mary, University of London have created “micro shuttles” that can be loaded with drugs and opened remotely. Read more »

Last week, I wrote that the increased attention to biological drugs, which are mostly taken through injections, was spurring interest in needle-free and implantable delivery methods for vaccines. Research into alternative delivery methods for vaccines could produce innovative ways of delivering other kinds of drugs as well, and I recently read about an inspired idea that a team of Boston researchers had for delivering intermittent doses of drugs. Read more »

Have you ever considered getting a flu shot but quailed at the sight of the needle? Lots of people hate getting injections, but this delivery method is still the predominant technique for administering biological drugs. Rising demand for vaccines and other biologicals is one factor spurring manufacturers to seek alternative delivery methods that could one day rescue the needlephobic. Read more »

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a list of someone’s opinion of the “top 10 accidental discoveries.” On the list were at least two drug products (take a guess before you research). Although I’m certain there are bound to be more accidental discoveries, I’m even more certain that most future discoveries will be deliberate, based on detailed knowledge of the systems under study.

For example, recent advances in therapeutic biologics have raised the need for a greater understanding of how the body fights infectious diseases at the most fundamental level. One of the most elusive parts of this understanding is the inner workings of ribosomes, those parts of the cell responsible for producing proteins. Read more »

Two announcements made on two consecutive days last week vividly showed that whether a thing is helpful or harmful often depends on how we use it. The announcements’ subject? Tobacco. Read more »

A formulation that can sustain the delivery of a drug and reduce the frequency of doses by itself contributes to improved patient compliance. But when sustained delivery of this formulation is coupled with organ-specific delivery by means of innovative combination products, the benefits to patients are even greater. Read more »