Innovation in Therapeutics: Drugs of the Future

At the recently concluded MIT Sloan BioInnovations 2013 conference, one of the panels identified the top innovations in the past five years in life sciences and predicted the innovations within the next five years. The panel discussed the challenges for the future of drugs and how the advances in genetic modification, nanotechnology and biochemistry will shape the scientific breakthroughs.

Panelists:
Navjot Singh, Ph.D., Partner, McKinsey & Company
Tim Harris, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Translational Medicine and Biochemistry, Biogen Idec
Anne De Groot, M.D., CEO, Professor & Director, Epivax
Prof. Ehud Gazit, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, Science and Technology Ministry, Israel
Eric Perakslis, Ph.D., Chief Information Officer and Chief Scientist (Informatics), U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Here is the list of innovations that the panelists identified.

Past five years:

1. Xalkori (Crizotinib) for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer by Pfizer
2. Adeno associated virus for gene transfer therapies
3. Small interfering RNA for modulation of gene expression
4. Vaccine delivery patch based on microneedles
5. Democratization of data - genesis for big data
6. Selzentry (maraviroc) for HIV treatment by Pfizer
7. Weight loss drugs
8. Therapeutic vaccines
9. Drugs for treating cystic fibrosis
10. Tysabri for the treatment of multiple sclerosis by Biogen Idec
11. Use of bioinformatics and cheminformatics for drug discovery and development

Next five years:

1. Drugs that lead to increased life expectancy
2. Gene therapy to get proteins inside the body
3. Fully controlled formation of amyloid assembly
4. In-depth understanding of cardiovascular diseases
5. Genetic markers
6. Drugs to treat psychiatric and neurological disorders
7. Using induced pluripotent stem cells for testing treatments / drugs
8. Antibody and small-molecule therapies for cancer treatment