Re: QSAR - Were half of the current drugs discovered prior to 1930?

Hugo and All,

Noted neuroscientist Tamas Bartfai, Ph.D., is the director of the newly
established Harold L. Dorris Neurological Research Center at The Scripps
Research Institute. In addition, he holds the Harold L. Dorris Chair in
Neuroscience. The center was formed with a $10 million commitment from
Helen L. Dorris of San Diego.

Pofesosr Bartfai is former head of central nervous system research at
Hoffman-La Roche, in Basel, Switzerland. Most of his professional career
was spent in academia at Stockholm University, most recently as Chairman,
Department of Neurochemistry and Neurotoxicity. Born in Budapest, Hungary,
he received his undergraduate education there at Eotvos Lorand University
and a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Stockholm University. He has served as a
visiting scientist at Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical School,
Jerusalem; Yale University Medical School; and the Neuropsychiatric
Institute at University of California, Los Angeles. Bartfai holds adjunct
appointments at The Rockefeller University and Stanford University.

Yvonne

kubinyi,t-online.de
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11/14/02 10:47 AM
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Dear all, 
although I do not have figures at hand, I would like to share some
comments with Yvonne and you.
First, who is Professor Bartfai? Is he an expert in the field?
Second, how is the term drug defined? Does acetaminophen, because it is
present in 200 different formulations, count 200 times? Is opium a
"drug", as we define a drug nowadays, or is it just a bioactive plant
product? Morphine started 1806, a most-often used synthetic analog,
Tramadol, only some decades ago. Penicillin was discovered more than 70
years ago, was isolated and introduced into therapy about 60 years ago
- but broadband, orally active, lactamase-resistant analogs were
developed less than thirty years ago. Aspirin was discovered in 1897,
introduced into therapy in 1899, but its mechanism of action and its
powerful activity as an antiaggregation drug was dicovered only in the
early seventies. The COX-2 selective drugs celecoxib and rofecoxib were
introduced in the market in 1999.
Third, do we count all drugs that have ever been used during the last
hundert years or only those that are still in the market? Or do we only
count the drugs that are of any importance, nowadays?
I propose that we take only the last criterium and, in this respect,
much more than fifty percent of all "relevant" drugs are from the last
thirty years. If we look at sales, this percentage is even more
impressive - but this might be an unfair argument because patented
drugs are in general much more expensive than patent-free drugs.
The million dollar question is: does anybody have exact figures?
Best regards
Hugo 
yvonne.c.martin.:.abbott.com schrieb:
> Hi all,
> 
> I received the following e-mail and have been able to
> trace this only to a 
> talk given by Prof. Bartfai. 
>
http://www.bio.com/newsfeatures/newsfeatures_features.jhtml?action=view&contentItem=49623739&Page=1
> 
> Does anyone have more information? Do you want to
> question this statement?
> 
> Yvonne
> ----- Forwarded by Yvonne C Martin/LAKE/PPRD/ABBOTT on
> 11/14/02 09:16 AM 
> -----
> 
> 
> James B Summers
> 11/14/02 08:10 AM
> 
> 
>         To:     Yvonne C Martin/LAKE/PPRD/ABBOTT
>         cc: 
>         Subject: 
> 
> Heard an interesting statement in a presentation
> yesterday.  Have you ever 
> seen this statement or know the author:
> 
> ?       There are 10,300 medicines but they come only
> from 433 distinct 
> chemical entities half of which were discovered prior to
> 1930
>           (ref: T. Bartfai, The Scripps Research
> Institute)
> 
>
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