Thanks to remarkable advances in modern health care attributable to science, engineering, and medicine, it is now possible to cure or manage illnesses that were long deemed untreatable. At the same time, however, the United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicinesâ€"and health care at largeâ€"more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugsâ€"coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costsâ€"is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.

Biotechnology and Biopharmaceuticals: Transforming Proteins and Genes into Drugs, Second Edition addresses the pivotal issues relating to translational science, including preclinical and clinical drug development, regulatory science, pharmaco-economics and cost-effectiveness considerations. The new edition also provides an update on new proteins and genetic medicines, the translational and integrated sciences that continue to fuel the innovations in medicine, as well as the new areas of therapeutic development including cancer vaccines, stem cell therapeutics, and cell-based therapies.

The pharmaceutical industry is on the verge of an exciting and challenging century. Advances in pharmaceutical sciences have dramatically changed the processes of discovery and development of new therapeutic drugs and, in turn, resulted in an extraordinary increase in the potential prophylactic and therapeutic interventions. In this atmosphere, an

Translational Medicine: Optimizing Preclinical Safety Evaluation of Biopharmaceuticals provides scientists responsible for the translation of novel biopharmaceuticals into clinical trials with a better understanding of how to navigate the obstacles that keep innovative medical research discoveries from becoming new therapies or even making it to clinical trials. The book includes sections on protein-based therapeutics, modified proteins, oligonucleotide-based therapies, monoclonal antibodies, antibody–drug conjugates, gene and cell-based therapies, gene-modified cell-based therapies, combination products, and therapeutic vaccines. Best practices are defined for efficient discovery research to facilitate a science-based, efficient, and predictive preclinical development program to ensure clinical efficacy and safety. Key Features: Defines best practices for leveraging of discovery research to facilitate a development program Includes general principles, animal models, biomarkers, preclinical toxicology testing paradigms, and practical applications Discusses rare diseases Discusses "What-Why-When-How" highlighting different considerations based upon product attributes. Includes special considerations for rare diseases About the Editors Joy A. Cavagnaro is an internationally recognized expert in preclinical development and regulatory strategy with an emphasis on genetic medicines.. Her 40-year career spans academia, government (FDA), and the CRO and biotech industries. She was awarded the 2019 Arnold J Lehman Award from the Society of Toxicology for introducing the concept of science-based, case-by-case approach to preclinical safety evaluation, which became the foundation of ICH S6. She currently serves on scientific advisory boards for advocacy groups and companies and consults and lectures in the area of preclinical development of novel therapies. Mary Ellen Cosenza is a regulatory toxicology consultant with over 30 years of senior leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry in the U.S., Europe, and emerging markets. She has held leadership position in both the American College of Toxicology (ACT) and the International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX) and is also an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Southern California where she teaches graduate-level courses in toxicology and regulation of biologics.

This book provides a comprehensive examination of the newest biopharmaceutical drugs. Among the drugs discussed are ones in the categories of monoclonal antibodies for in-vivo use, cytokines, growth factors, enzymes, immunomodulators, thrombolytics, and immonotherapies including vaccines. Additionally, the volume examines new and emerging technologies, and contains a review of the Human Genome Project.

To explore the role of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in innovative drug development and its impact on patient access, the Board on Health Care Services and the Board on Health Sciences Policy of the National Academies jointly hosted a public workshop on July 24â€"25, 2019, in Washington, DC. Workshop speakers and participants discussed the ways in which federal investments in biomedical research are translated into innovative therapies and considered approaches to ensure that the public has affordable access to the resulting new drugs. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

The biotechnology/biopharmaceutical sector has tremendously grown which led to the invention of engineered antibodies such as Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs), Bispecific T-cell engager (BITES), Dual Variable Domain (DVD) antibodies, and fusion proteins that are currently being used as therapeutic agents for immunology, oncology and other disease conditions. Regulatory agencies have raised the bar for the development and manufacture of antibody-based products, expecting to see the use of Quality by Design (QbD) elements demonstrating an in-depth understanding of product and process based on sound science. Drug delivery systems have become an increasingly important part of the therapy and most biopharmaceuticals for self-administration are being marketed as combination products. A survey of the market indicates that there is a strong need for a new book that will provide “one stop shopping” for the latest information and knowledge of the scientific and engineering advances made over the last few years in the area of biopharmaceutical product development. The new book entitled Development of Biopharmaceutical Drug Device Products is a reference text for scientists and engineers in the biopharmaceutical industry, academia or regulatory agencies. With insightful chapters from experts in the field, this new book reviews first principles, covers recent technological advancements and provides case studies and regulatory strategies relating to the development and manufacture of antibody-based products. It covers topics such as the importance of early preformulation studies during drug discovery to influence molecular selection for development, formulation strategies for new modalities, and the analytical techniques used to characterize them. It also addresses important considerations for later stage development such as the development of robust formulations and processes, including process engineering and modeling of manufacturing unit operations, the design of analytical comparability studies, and characterization of primary containers (pre-filled syringes and vials).Finally, the latter half of the book reviews key considerations to ensure the development and approval of a patient-centered delivery system design. This involves the evolving regulatory framework with perspectives from both the US and EU industry experts, the role of international standards, design control/risk management, human factors and its importance in the product development and regulatory approval process, as well as review of the risk-based approach to bridging between devices used in clinical trials and the to-be-marketed device. Finally, case studies are provided throughout.The typical readership would have biology and/or engineering degrees and would include researchers, scientific leaders, industry specialists and technology developers working in the biopharmaceutical field.