The introduction of new medicines has dramatically improved the
quantity and quality of individual and public health while
contributing trillions of dollars to the global economy. In spite
of these past successes--and indeed because of them--our ability to
deliver new medicines may be quickly coming to an end. Moving from
the beginning of the twentieth century to the present,
A
Prescription for Change reveals how changing business
strategies combined with scientific hubris have altered the way new
medicines are discovered, with dire implications for both health
and the economy.
To explain how we have arrived at this pivotal moment, Michael
Kinch recounts the history of pharmaceutical and biotechnological
advances in the twentieth century. Kinch relates stories of the
individuals and organizations that built the modern infrastructure
that supports the development of innovative new medicines. He shows
that an accelerating cycle of acquisition and downsizing is
cannibalizing that infrastructure Kinch demonstrates the
dismantling of the pharmaceutical and biotechnological research and
development enterprises could also provide opportunities to
innovate new models that sustain and expand the introduction of
newer and better breakthrough medicines in the years to come.