The Future

The preceding chapters have attempted to describe, but only in the merest outline, the various processes which when skilfully fitted together result in the genesis of a new medicine. It is a costly business in terms of time, money and nervous energy. At innumerable points along the pathway a feedback-type of activity is apparent where results and observations are constantly being compared with previous experience, in order to improve not only the actual process itself, but also to identify ways to develop even better medicines in the future. Research-based companies therefore compete through innovation to produce better products and better techniques and they use this experience to open up different research lines aimed even more specifically at the treatment and alleviation of a variety of disease states. In the main these disease states are those which afflict the affluent western civilisations because the need to be successful in a profitable area is paramount if more money is to be ploughed back into even more R & D. Often though, discoveries are made which would beneficially affect either rare conditions or ‘third world’ diseases such as various parasitic infestations. In the majority of instances development of such chemicals is not pursued by the pharmaceutical industry because the difficulty of gaining registration, together with the amount of work involved both before and after registration, conspire to ensure that a reasonable return on the investment is impossible. Sometimes organisations such as the World Health Organization or other interested bodies take on the responsibility for progressing these potential new medicines. Usually, however, they rarely see the light of day. As previously