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True Earthling

(832 posts) Wed Aug 17, 2016, 08:24 PM Aug 2016

This Drug Could End America’s Painkiller Epidemic

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-17/this-drug-could-end-america-s-painkiller-epidemic

The new molecule targets the brain-mediated emotional component of pain. This allows it to kill pain just as well as morphine does, without the side effects of respiratory suppression and dopamine-driven addiction in the brain. (Regular painkillers target both the brain-mediated and reflexive response aspects of pain.) The new drug also causes less constipation and doesn't affect spinal cord reflexive responses as traditional narcotics do, according to the study.

The new compound was identified using 2012 findings by Manglik and others in the lab of Brian Kobilka, a Stanford professor of molecular and cellular physiology and a Nobel Laureate. (Kobilka was a co-senior author of the new paper.) In the earlier research, scientists described the atomic structure of the mu opioid receptor, through which painkillers such as morphine act. Understanding how the receptor interacts with morphine or other drugs let the PZM21 developers replicate morphine’s benefits without setting off chemical reactions that suppress breathing.

With that information in hand, researchers were able to screen about 3 million compounds, using 4 trillion virtual simulations, to see which ones produced the right interaction with the mu opioid receptor. They came up with a short list of 23 candidates and found one that caused the right reactions after interacting with the mu opioid receptor. Then they strengthened it by a factor of 1,000.

While more testing is done to replace addictive opioids, the work on PZM21 may bear fruit in many other areas of medicine. The researchers studied a large family of receptors that communicate messages to cells, not just the mu opioid receptor, so a similar approach could yield new types of drugs for other conditions.

10 replies

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This Drug Could End America’s Painkiller Epidemic (Original Post) True Earthling Aug 2016 OP

It's promising, next step is first-in-man clinical trials. Avalux Aug 2016 #1

Why is that unfortunate? True Earthling Aug 2016 #3

I think I do, considering I've spent 28 years in the industry. Avalux Aug 2016 #4

Do you know how many biotech/pharma co's have gone bankrupt or undergone liquidation? True Earthling Aug 2016 #5

Also - how many drug co's do you believe actually have a drug approved and on the market? True Earthling Aug 2016 #7

Why does it cost $12 billion to develop a drug? SticksnStones Aug 2016 #8

$12B is not the average..AstraZeneca has a huge pipeline True Earthling Aug 2016 #9

Thanks for the link. I will read up more on the topic SticksnStones Aug 2016 #10

I'm in... ghostsinthemachine Aug 2016 #2

Right behind you ghost. Lochloosa Aug 2016 #6

Avalux

(35,015 posts)

1. It's promising, next step is first-in-man clinical trials.

Reply to True Earthling (Original post)

Wed Aug 17, 2016, 08:34 PM

Aug 2016

Right now it's a compound that looks promising in the lab (no mention of animal studies), the real test comes when a person ingests it. Then they look at the side effects, and there will be side effects. Hopefully they will be mild and may have a new drug that could ultimately help people suffering from opioid addiction.

On the financial (and unfortunate) side, some lucky drug company will make a shitload of money if it works.

True Earthling

(832 posts)

3. Why is that unfortunate?

Reply to Avalux (Reply #1)

Wed Aug 17, 2016, 08:42 PM

Aug 2016

Do you know what it costs to bring a drug to market?

The Truly Staggering Cost Of Inventing New Drugs

http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2012/02/10/the-truly-staggering-cost-of-inventing-new-drugs/#30356d8c4477

The range of money spent is stunning. AstraZeneca has spent $12 billion in research money for every new drug approved, as much as the top-selling medicine ever generated in annual sales; Amgen spent just $3.7 billion. At $12 billion per drug, inventing medicines is a pretty unsustainable business. At $3.7 billion, you might just be able to make money (a new medicine can probably keep generating revenue for ten years; invent one a year at that rate and you’ll do well).

There are lots of expenses here. A single clinical trial can cost $100 million at the high end, and the combined cost of manufacturing and clinical testing for some drugs has added up to $1 billion. But the main expense is failure. AstraZeneca does badly by this measure because it has had so few new drugs hit the market. Eli Lilly spent roughly the same amount on R&D, but got twice as many new medicines approved over that 15 year period, and so spent just $4.5 billion per drug.

Avalux

(35,015 posts)

4. I think I do, considering I've spent 28 years in the industry.

Reply to True Earthling (Reply #3)

Wed Aug 17, 2016, 08:46 PM

Aug 2016

I love this line from the article: "inventing medicines is a pretty unsustainable business".

True Earthling

(832 posts)

5. Do you know how many biotech/pharma co's have gone bankrupt or undergone liquidation?

Reply to Avalux (Reply #4)

Wed Aug 17, 2016, 08:52 PM

Aug 2016

You spent 28 yrs at one of the successful ones I'm guessing.

As an investor in biotech I believe the statement is valid.

True Earthling

(832 posts)

7. Also - how many drug co's do you believe actually have a drug approved and on the market?

Reply to Avalux (Reply #4)

Thu Aug 18, 2016, 11:01 AM

Aug 2016

I would guess that 80-90% of drug companies (public & private) don't generate revenue because all their drugs are in the pre-clinical or the clinical stage of development. These companies generate huge losses year after year that investors have to bear through numerous rounds of funding.

Are you aware that 99% of drugs under development fail before they even enter the clinic and when they do get an IND approval..the failure rate entering Phase I is around 90%? And for the 10% that succeed and go on to Phase II the failure rate is 70%.

SticksnStones

(2,108 posts)

8. Why does it cost $12 billion to develop a drug?

Reply to True Earthling (Reply #3)

Thu Aug 18, 2016, 11:09 AM

Aug 2016

Where does the money go? Salaries? Cost of raw materials? Does every new drug require the inventing of new testing hardware or software? Is it maybe insurance costs?

I'm all for $12 billion dollars running through our economy especially if a huge chunk of that is high paying jobs but really, where does all the money go? It's not like you're launching a ship to Mars.

I'd think at this point, there'd be some redundancy of infrastructure so that as time goes on, costs to test should go down, shouldn't they?

Just asking...

True Earthling

(832 posts)

9. $12B is not the average..AstraZeneca has a huge pipeline

Reply to SticksnStones (Reply #8)

Thu Aug 18, 2016, 11:41 AM

Aug 2016

146 projects in their pipeline according to their website. That $12B figure will come down as their drugs are approved.

Actually drug development today is a lot more complicated than sending a rocket to Mars..IMO.

It takes about 10 years from pre-clinical animal testing through approval. Some of the trials can last for years and involve tens of thousands of patients. In 2013 the per-patient cost in a Phase III trial was $48,000.. it's probably closer to $70,000 today.

The reasons these trials are expensive is multi-faceted. If you really want to know start here...

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.manhattan-institute.org%2Fpdf%2Ffda_05.pdf