Drug Research and Drug Development in the 21st Century Science and Ethics

Distinguished scientists and members of the medical profession discuss the research and development of safe and suitable drugs for the long-term treatment of chronic diseases. The book provides an up-to-date survey on new insights and technologies - as well as ethical considerations - , since traditional means and methods of drug research and drug development may no longer suffice to meet the challenges of the next century.

History and Philosophy of Bayer Pharmaceutical Research.- Science, Responsibility, and Society.- Opening Remarks.- Message of Greeting.- I. Unresolved Problems of Chronic Diseases.- Demographic and Epidemiologic Trends Today.- Atherosclerosis and Coronary Heart Disease.- Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Modell of Chronic Inflammation.- Alzheimer’s Disease.- Obstructive Lung Disease.- Biological Approaches to Cancer Therapy.- Challenges and Obstacles hi Clinical Evaluations of Therapy.- Problems, Pitfalls, and Opportunities in Long-term Randomized Trials.- The Impact of Clinical Trials on Clinical Practice.- Panel Discussion I: Cost Effectiveness of Drug Development and Health Economics.- II. Advanced Technologies, Scientific Achievements.- Receptors and Messengers.- Low Density Lipoproteins and Hypercholesterolemia.- Leukotrienes in Airways and Blood Vessels.- Drug Design.- Opening Remarks.- Thoughts About Gene Regulation and Mammalian Development.- Protein Crystallography and Drug Design.- Applying Engineering Principles to the Design of Cellular Biology.- Analytical Pathophysiology and Biochemistry.- Opening Remarks.- Neurotransmitters in the Brain.- Mechanisms of Cancer Metastasis.- Panel Discussion II: Objectives of Basic Research and Predictive Value Preclinical Testing.- The Patient as a Subject to Medical Research.- Ethics of Drug Research and Drug Development.- The Functions of Ethical Committees.- Reduction of Risk to Patients Through Optimized Planning of Clinical Drug Development.- The Quality of Life of Hypertensive Patients in Long-term Studies.- Panel Discussion III: Who is Concerned with Patient Welfare in Research?.- Concluding Remarks.