DRUG DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
There are five steps in the drug development process, according to
the FDA.
1. Discovery and development
In this step, researchers examine new insights into a disease
process, which allows them to design a product to stop the effects of
the disease.
They test molecular compounds to find possible beneficial effects
against certain diseases.
Researchers discover new drugs through existing treatments and
new technologies as well.
Then, they conduct experiments to gather information on how the
drug is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted.
They also discover its
Potential benefits
Mechanisms of action
The best dosage and the best way to give the drugs
Side effects of adverse events, how it affects different groups of
people
How it interacts with other drugs and treatmentsits effectiveness
compared to other drugs.
2. Preclinical research
The second step in the is preclinical research, which includes in
vitro and in vivo trials.
In the preclinical research step, drugs go through laboratory and
animal testing to answer basic questions about safety.
In this step, FDA requires researchers to use laboratory best
practices as defined in medical product development regulation to
test safety.
These regulations include study conduct, personnel, facilities,
equipment, written protocols, operating procedures, study reports,
and a system of quality assurance oversight for each study.
3. Clinical research
The third step is clinical research. This refers to studies or trial that are done
in people.
Through clinical research, specific questions related to a medical product are
answered.
Through these answers, researchers decide who qualifies to participate, how
many people will be apart of the study, how long the study will last, a control
group, how the drug will be administered,
What assessments will be conducted, and how the data will be reviewed?
4. Drug review
The fourth step of the process is the FDA drug review.
First, a pharmaceutical company submits a New Drug
Application
FDA reviews the drug and approves or rejects it.
Finally,an FDA advisory committee provides their input.
5. Drug safety monitoring
The last step in the drug development process is FDA
post-market drug safety monitoring.
This is where FDA reviews reports of problems with drugs
Can decide to add cautions to the dosage or usage
information, as well as other measures for more serious
issues.
DRUG DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
Pharmaceutical industry faces a host of drug development challenges.
Main challenges is the lengthy process, according to the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) Due to the lengthy process, NIH states, there is
a high degree of uncertainty that a drug will actually succeed.
Many disorders have unknown pathophysiology, it is oftentimes
difficult for researchers to target identification.
Another major challenge in the drug development cycle, according to
experts in the pharmaceutical and drug development field, is increasing
costs and pressure on pricing.
But experts believe that public-private partnerships,
adaptive designs, and big data can help improve this
pressure.
Public-private partnerships come in different forms, each of which
offer specific opportunities and face distinct challenges.
Adaptive trial designs are also beneficial because they allow
modifications to the trial after its initiation without undermining its
validity. But these designs require careful planning and
specification before a trial starts.
The use of big data is vital for researchers to leverage existing
information into knowledge usable for drug discovery and
development.