History of the pharmaceutical industry

 History of the pharmaceutical industry

The pharmaceutical industry, as we now know it, is barely 60 years    old. From very modest beginnings, it has grown rapidly, reaching an estimated value of US$100 billion by the mid 1980s. Its current value is likely double or more this fi gure. There are well in excess of 10 000 pharmaceutical companies in existence, although only about 100 of these can claim to be of true international signifi cance. These companies manufacture in excess of 5000 individual pharmaceutical substances used routinely in medicine.

Turn of the twentieth century. 

At that time (apart from folk cures), the medical community had at their disposal only four drugs that were effective in treating specifi c diseases: Digitalis (extracted from foxglove) was known to stimulate heart muscle and, hence, was used to treat various heart conditions. 

Quinine, obtained from the barks/roots of a plant (Cinchona genus), was used to treat malaria. 

Pecacuanha (active ingredient is a mixture of alkaloids), used for treating dysentery, was obtained from the bark/roots of the plant genus Cephaelis.

Mercury, for the treatment of syphilis.

:The age of biopharmaceuticals

Biomedical research continues to broaden our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlining both health and disease. Research undertaken since the 1950s has pinpointed a host of proteins produced naturally in the body that have obvious therapeutic applications. Examples include the interferons and interleukins (which regulate the immune response), growth factors, such as erythropoietin (EPO; which stimulates red blood cell production), and neurotrophic factors (which regulate the development and maintenance of neural tissue).

Although the pharmaceutical potential of these regulatory molecules was generally appreciated, their widespread medical application was in most cases rendered impractical due to the tiny quantities in which they were naturally produced. The advent of recombinant DNA technology (genetic engineering) and monoclonal antibody technology (hybridoma technology) overcame many such diffi culties, and marked the beginning of a new era of the pharmaceutical sciences.