Layoffs in Pharmaceutical Industry due to Productivity Crisis in R&D; CBCD Offers a New Technology
Rochester, NY (PRWEB) October 11, 2013 -- The general public still believes that the big pharmaceutical companies do great research. As a result, the public looks to these companies to save them from cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and many others.
Data shows this hope is misdirected.
As it turns out, the great breakthroughs hailed by the pharmaceutical industry, are not that great. In spite of tremendous scientific, technical and managerial advancements, the big pharmaceutical companies introduce fewer new drugs every year. Moreover, most of these "new" drugs are actually small variations on existing drugs. Consider a study published in March of 2012 on Nature.com. “The number of new drugs approved per billion US dollars spent on R&D by the pharmaceutical industry fell by half roughly every 9 years since 1950 (2). Scientists call this trend the 'The Productivity Crisis in Drug Discovery.' The financial markets also use the term, 'empty pipeline.' ”
Eight years ago, Professor D. Almog wrote that “The productivity crisis in pharmaceuticals is an important problem that should be seriously addressed by academic scientists and NIH administrators (3).” His study was published in the Medical Science Monitor in January 2005.
As the CBCD recently reported, big pharmaceutical companies are starting to respond to investors’ concerns. For instance, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd. has announced “plans to eliminate about 5,000 jobs as it accelerates cost reductions amid growing competition… Cutbacks, which equal about 10 percent of the workforce … (1).”
“It seems that at least part of Teva’s reason for downsizing is the fact that ‘its future hinges on finding new revenue to replace what it earns from the branded product Copaxone (1).’ In other words, they have no new drugs to replace Copaxone. Investors are aware of Teva’s empty pipeline. No new drugs. No new investments. With an empty pipeline, it makes financial sense to invest elsewhere.” – Greg Bennett, CBCD
It is troubling that Big Pharma is in the midst of a productivity crisis. However, the Center also sees this crisis as an opportunity, and would like to suggest Computer Intuition, a new drug discovery technology.
What is ‘Computer Intuition’?
‘Computer Intuition’ is a psycholinguistic-based data-mining program that analyzes scientific text and helps scientists discover new therapeutic features of chemical entities.
In September 2013, the medical journal Pharmacology & Pharmacy, in a special edition on Advances in Antiviral Drugs, published a clinical study, which showed that the dietary supplement Gene-Eden-VIR is safe and effective. Gene-Eden-VIR was developed using ‘Computer Intuition.’ The results of this clinical study show that ‘Computer Intuition’ can predict clinical results.
“In 1996…a prototype of a psycholinguistic-based data-mining program that analyzes scientific text and assigns a rating to all ideas found in the text” was completed (4). “The higher the rating, the more (‘Computer Intuition’) hints at future events (4).”
“The following is a description of one prospective application of Computer Intuition. In 1995, Frederiksen published a paper entitled: Diagnostic Imaging in Dental Implantology. At the time, Frederiksen was one of the world leading experts on the subject. To test the pre-dictive power of the Computer Intuition analysis, Almog and Heisler from the University of Rochester devised a test. They conducted a Medline search for papers published between 1980 and 1996 using keywords relevant to the subject of diagnostics, imaging, and dental implantology. The search identified 34 papers. The content of these papers was analyzed with Computer Intuition. The analysis produced three ideas. Two ideas were identical to the main conclusions described in Frederik-sen’s paper. This, by itself, was an impressive achievement. By using Computer Intuition, Almog and Heisler duplicated the results of a world leading expert quickly and inexpensively. However, while it took Frederiksen decades to build his expertise, Almog and Heisler acquired similar expertise within weeks (4).”
The authors of the study went on to note that the third idea suggested by Computer Intuition was a new technology. “This technology was not mentioned in Frederiksen’s paper. The three ideas were published in 1997. How predictive was the Computer Intuition analysis? In 2006, Almog, Frederiksen, and four colleagues, published a survey of the academic and commercial field of diagnostic imaging in oral implantology. In their paper, they reported an interesting observation. Beginning in 2000, three years after the publication of the Computer Intuition paper, ‘numerous companies from technology-transfer and commercial standpoint have introduced technology platforms that offer planning and guidance systems to facilitate dental implant placement procedures’, the same technology proposed by the third idea three years earlier (4).”
The CBCD invites pharmaceutical executives to contact the Center to learn more about ‘Computer Intuition’ and how this forward thinking technology can help provide higher returns on investment, and be implemented as part of their R&D efforts.
We invite the media to contact us for interviews at: info (at)buy-gene-eden(dot)com or phone 585-250-9999.
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References:
(1) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-10/teva-to-cut-5-000-jobs-take-1-1-billion-charge.html
(2) http://www.nature.com/nrd/journal/v11/n3/full/nrd3681.html
(3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15614206
(4) http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=36101
The Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease (CBCD, http://www.cbcd.net) is a research center recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-for-profit organization. The mission of the CBCD is to advance the research on the biology of chronic diseases, and to accelerate the discovery of treatments.
The CBCD published the “Purple” book by Dr. Hanan Polansky. The book presents Dr. Polansky’s highly acclaimed scientific theory on the relationship between foreign DNA and the onset of chronic diseases. Dr. Polansky’s book is available as a free download from the CBCD website.
Hanan Polansky, Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease (CBCD), +1 (585) 250-9999, [email protected]
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