Pharma R&D Today

Rare disease research: grey literature is the new knowledge currency

Posted on March 27th, 2020 by Harpreet Shah

Pharma research for rare disease is challenging because of insufficient patient populations available for clinical trials, and also because the investment returns are marginal. Thus, grey literature is an important source of information for rare disease research—and, fortunately, grey literature data is increasingly being recognized as highly valuable to the scientific community.

When insights from pharma help fight fungus

Posted on March 24th, 2020 by Maria Shkrob

Fungicide resistance is a growing problem, as evidenced by publication trends. Publications on this issue are particularly high across the world’s major economies, and many focus specifically on the fungus Botrytis.

Personal Health Train initiative gives researchers data access FAIRly

Posted on March 19th, 2020 by Mark Siebert

Health data is everywhere. It is managed by universities, research centers, medical institutions and by individuals themselves. With this valuable data located in so many disparate places, and organized differently in each place, it can be difficult for researchers to access and make use of it.

Exploring the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine against COVID-19

Posted on March 18th, 2020 by Harpreet Shah

With the continued fatal spread of COVID-19 and no cure at hand, Chinese doctors are looking to pharmaceutical drugs and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) alike to explore possibilities for treatment as well as prevention. According to Nature, traditional therapies are included among the many clinical trials that are running or pending in China right now. But there is concern that rigorous standards need to be set, to ensure the trial results can be trusted.

Approaches for creating a COVID-19 vaccine

Posted on March 16th, 2020 by Christy J. Wilson

Before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, no one had ever heard of the causative agent 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2). There were no approved antivirals or vaccines for this virus or for any related coronaviruses (e.g., severe acute respiratory syndrome–associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) or Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus).

Bio-IT World Conference 2020 presentation: A Network Polypharmacology Approach to Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma

Posted on March 5th, 2020 by Xuanyan Xu

The Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, taking place in Boston from April 21-23, is an annual event that brings together thousands of great minds to highlight technologies and analytic approaches to solving problems, accelerating science and driving the future of precision medicine.

About this Blog

The Elsevier Pharma R&D blog provides insight and opinion on topics related to pharmaceutical research and development, namely: big data, target identification, new drug discovery, drug safety monitoring, risk mitigation and regulatory compliance. We serve the community of chemists, scientists, drug safety specialists, educators and students interested in pharmaceutical R&D.

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Elsevier,  its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Reed Elsevier.