Early drug development relies on charity
August 14th, 2007This story from the Boston Globe unveils a major grant for research into cystic fibrosis, but the real story lies elsewhere. Increasingly, the writer says, pharmaceutical companies rely on nonprofits to fund early stage drug development. The reason: private investors find such research too risky. The result: nonprofits are changing the face of drug research.
The problem is particularly acute for “orphan diseases” such as cystic fibrosis, which affect relatively few people and therefore present limited financial incentive for pharmaceutical firms to research treatments.
… Nationwide this year, charitable foundations such as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and Muscular Dystrophy Association will pump about $75 million into drug-development research by biotechnology firms, according to CenterWatch Monthly, an newsletter that covers the pharma and biotech industries.
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on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 at 9:33 pm and is filed under cystic fibrosis, medicine, philanthropy, research news.
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