Trends in pharmaceutical targeting of clinical indications: 1930-2013

Michael S Kinch; Janie Merkel; Sheila Umlauf

doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2014.05.021

Trends in pharmaceutical targeting of clinical indications: 1930-2013

Drug Discov Today. 2014 Nov;19(11):1682-1685. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2014.05.021. Epub 2014 May 29.

Authors

Michael S Kinch¹, Janie Merkel², Sheila Umlauf²

Affiliations

¹ Yale Center for Molecular Discovery, Yale University, 600 West Campus Drive, West Haven, CT 06516, USA. Electronic address: michael.kinch@yale.edu.
² Yale Center for Molecular Discovery, Yale University, 600 West Campus Drive, West Haven, CT 06516, USA.

PMID: 24881779
DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2014.05.021

Abstract

An analysis of FDA-approved new molecular entities (NMEs) reveals trends in therapeutic applications. Four groupings (infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune/inflammatory diseases and cancer) capture more than 60% of NMEs. Infectious diseases are the most targeted indications. Near the turn of the new millennium, the rate of new approvals for infectious diseases decreased. The absolute and relative number of NMEs targeting psychiatric, neurological and pain/itch indications also declined. By contrast, NMEs targeting cancer have risen in the past two decades as have NMEs targeting orphan indications. These results suggest the drug development community has largely been responsive to public health and market needs. However, finite resources might indicate emphasis on some unmet needs could come at the cost of others.

MeSH terms

Drug Approval / statistics & numerical data*
Drug Discovery / trends*
Drug Industry / trends*
United States
United States Food and Drug Administration