title: Contemporary drug development--dilemmas.
abstract: The past needs of and benefits to society of new medicinal agents have been amply documented, and future new therapies can be of even greater value. Yet, the trends and conditions of our times indicate that the marked decrease in the commitment to basic drug research will seriously erode the potential availability of important new drugs in the future. Industry, which is responsible for the discovery and development of virtually all new chemical entities, is committing relatively fewer resources to the increasingly difficult and economically less attractive business of discovering new drugs. The reasons for this decline in drug innovation relate to a complex set of regulatory, economic, and psychological factors. These forces are considered in some detail, and various suggestions for corrective action are proposed and discussed.
mesh_terms: D004345:Drug Industry / Q000191:economics; D007880:Legislation, Drug; D012106:Research; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration