Pharmaceutical Technologist - March 2008 - (Page 6)

News GSK mounts defence in antidepressant row Study creates concern across the globe An analysis into the efficacy of antidepressants has created “unnecessary alarm” and “concern for patients”, GlaxoSmithKline claims. The study, conducted by British and American researchers, sparked concern across the globe by suggesting the antidepressants fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Seroxat), venlafaxine (Effexor) and nefazodone (Serzone) worked no better than placebos, except in the most severely depressed patients. GSK is “disappointed” with how the study has been reported, and is urging patients to discuss their situation with their doctor before they stop taking their medicine. It has also strongly defended the efficacy of antidepressants, saying that the study has only examined a small subset of the total data available for antidepressants. For paroxetine, for example, the study only considered data from 16 trials out of a total database of more than 170. “GSK rejects any suggestion that we deliberately withheld data on paroxetine from the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). GSK provides both published and unpublished data as part of the development of the NICE guidelines regarding the licensed use of paroxetine.” Other drug companies, including Wyeth and Eli Lilly, have also expressed their concerns regarding the study, but its lead author, Irving Kirsch from the University of Hull (UK), believes that his research “raises serious issues that need to be addressed surrounding drug licensing and how drug trial data are reported.” www.gsk.com New understanding to breed new drugs Biological and medical research could be on the verge of a new era based on better understanding of how large organic molecules bind together and recognize each other. Scientists believe there is great potential for exploiting the molecular docking processes that are commonplace in all organisms to develop new drugs that act more specifically, without adverse side-effects. A workshop on biosupramolecular chemistry, organized by the European Science Foundation, brought together scientists to identify key research targets in medicine and construct novel materials by mimicking nature. The workshop identified some applications close to fruition, including the engineering of bacteria to produce silks as strong for their thickness as spider silk, and Andrei Lupas from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology (Germany) explained how the study of temporary binding and noncovalent forces could be used to derive evolutionary relationships between the proteins. This could have great application in evolutionary biology, and for determining the role of proteins whose function is, as yet, largely unknown, as well as understanding diseases where protein interactions go wrong. This application of biosupramolecular chemistry may be far off, but it is coming further into range, according to Professor Anthony Davis from Bristol University (UK). “Our main aim of the conference was to get two groups of scientists talking to each other — the supramolecular chemists and a group of biologists who might be termed ‘biomolecular engineers’,” says Davis. Supramolecular chemists study and manipulate interactions between molecules in general, while biomolecular engineers specialize in exploiting large organic molecules found in nature. Now the two groups have united and identified avenues of research, new discoveries could be close at hand. www.esf.org 6 MARCH 2008 PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGIST http://www.gsk.com http://www.esf.org

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Pharmaceutical Technologist - March 2008 Contents News Morpheus Market Watch E-procurement Means Lean Procurement The Rational Enquirer Simulating for Success Q&A

Pharmaceutical Technologist - March 2008

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