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Preface to 2nd Edition
Foreword
Preface to 2nd Edition
The intention that we set out with when starting the task of editing this new edition was to bring the book fully up to date but to try to keep the style and ethos of the original. All of the chapters have been updated and many have been extensively revised or completely rewritten by new authors. There are two completely novel topics given chapters of their own (Protein Scaffolds as Antibody Replacements; Imaging in Clinical Drug Development) as these topics were judged to be of increasing importance for the future. There are a greater number of authors contributing to this new edition and an attempt has been made to recruit some of our new authors from the traditional stronghold of our subject in the large pharmaceutical companies but also to have contributions from individuals who work in biotechnology companies, academic institutions and CROs. These segments of the industry are of increasing importance in sustaining the flow of new drugs yet have a different culture and different needs to those of the bigger companies. We are living in turbulent times and the traditional models of drug discovery and development are being questioned. Rather than the leadership position in research being automatically held by traditional large pharmaceutical companies we now have the creative mixture of a small number of very large companies (often with a focus on outsourcing a large part of their research activities), a vigorous and growing biotechnology / small specialty pharmaceutical company sector and a significant number of academic institutions engaged in drug discovery. It is interesting to speculate on how the face of drug discovery may look 5 years from now but it will certainly be different with movement of significant research investment to growth economies such as China and a reduction in such investment being made in the US and Western Europe. We hope that this new edition continues to fill the need for a general guide and primer to drug discovery and development and has moved with the times to reflect the changing face of our industry. RG Hill HP Rang
vii
Preface to 2nd Edition
The intention that we set out with when starting the task of editing this new edition was to bring the book fully up to date but to try to keep the style and ethos of the original. All of the chapters have been updated and many have been extensively revised or completely rewritten by new authors. There are two completely novel topics given chapters of their own (Protein Scaffolds as Antibody Replacements; Imaging in Clinical Drug Development) as these topics were judged to be of increasing importance for the future. There are a greater number of authors contributing to this new edition and an attempt has been made to recruit some of our new authors from the traditional stronghold of our subject in the large pharmaceutical companies but also to have contributions from individuals who work in biotechnology companies, academic institutions and CROs. These segments of the industry are of increasing importance in sustaining the flow of new drugs yet have a different culture and different needs to those of the bigger companies. We are living in turbulent times and the traditional models of drug discovery and development are being questioned. Rather than the leadership position in research being automatically held by traditional large pharmaceutical companies we now have the creative mixture of a small number of very large companies (often with a focus on outsourcing a large part of their research activities), a vigorous and growing biotechnology / small specialty pharmaceutical company sector and a significant number of academic institutions engaged in drug discovery. It is interesting to speculate on how the face of drug discovery may look 5 years from now but it will certainly be different with movement of significant research investment to growth economies such as China and a reduction in such investment being made in the US and Western Europe. We hope that this new edition continues to fill the need for a general guide and primer to drug discovery and development and has moved with the times to reflect the changing face of our industry. RG Hill HP Rang
vii