Translational drug discovery and development

The past century has seen a tremendous growth in the number of effective drugs against many diseases. In recent years, however, the number of novel drugs per year has remained essentially the same, despite dramatic increases in the research budgets of the pharmaceutical industry. Moreover, many of these new drugs are not truly innovative, but rather improvements of existing drugs. For many diseases imposing a major burden on both the individual and society there is a need for more effective pharmacological treatments.