PRESS RELEASE FROM THE Nature REVIEWS JOURNALS
(http://www.nature.com/nrj)
Vioxx: one year on, what have we learnt? - Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
Communicating cancer - Nature Reviews Cancer
PLEASE CITE THE APPROPRIATE NATURE REVIEWS JOURNAL'S WEBSITE (E.G.:
www.nature.com/nrdd) AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. IF PUBLISHING
ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO THE JOURNAL'S SITE
EMBARGOED PDF COPIES OF THESE PAPERS ARE NOW AVAILABLE ON THE REVIEW
JOURNALS SECTION OF: http://press.nature.com
***************Nature REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY*******************
(www.nature.com/nrd)
Vioxx: one year on, what have we learnt?
DOI: 10.1038/nrd1850
DOI: 10.1038/nrd1849
DOI: 10.1038/nrd1871
The high-profile withdrawal of Vioxx due to cardiovascular side effects left
the pharmaceutical industry's reputation in tatters with many critics
questioning the integrity and future of drug companies. One year after Vioxx
was withdrawn, several articles in the latest issue of Nature Reviews Drug
Discovery discuss what drug firms and the agencies that approve drugs need
to do to regain the public's trust.
In a news feature, ten leading researchers involved in the development and
use of the Vioxx and other similar drugs, known as COX2 selective
inhibitors, reveal the biggest lessons that have been learnt from the
Vioxx's withdrawal. The diversity of responses provides a telling sign of
the size of the task ahead.
As political and social pressures mount on the industry, reform may be
precipitated abruptly as happened with the computer and airline industries.
Garret FitzGerald suggests it is time for a radical reform of the drug
development process by introducing the new discipline of translational
medicine and therapeutics. This would address what FitzGerald sees as the
most critical deficiency in creating drugs and detecting adverse effects and
one of the biggest flaws with Vioxx, namely having scientists who can
integrate the knowledge of how drugs work at the molecular level with how
they act in patients.
Drawing on the Vioxx experience, Daniel Carpenter and Michael Ting
discuss the factors that can cause regulatory agencies to allow an unsafe
drug onto the market, or prevent a safe drug from reaching patients.
Protecting agency reputations, the familiarity and credibility of drug
companies, and political pressure from patient groups, can all conspire to
force agencies to make the wrong decision, the authors write.
Author contact details:
Garret FitzGerald (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Tel: +1 215 898 1185; Email: [email protected] (DOI:
10.1038/nrd1850)
Daniel Carpenter (Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 495 8280; Email: [email protected] (DOI:
10.1038/nrd1849)
*********************Nature REVIEWS DRUG CANCER**********************
(www.nature.com/nrc)
Communicating cancer
DOI: 10.1038/nrc1718
Information about the management and treatment of cancer on the Internet is
proliferating at a rapid rate, but how good is this resource at providing
useful information for patients?
In the October issue of Nature Reviews Cancer, Kasisomayajula Viswanath
explores the role of the Internet and other forms of mass media in helping
to raise awareness of cancer prevention and treatment that can shape what
people know and do about cancer. Type the phrase 'cancer treatment' into an
Internet search engine and you will get around 15 million hits. But the
quality of this information is variable and access to this advice is
dictated by social factors, such as income, education and ethnicity.
We know that well-funded, planned and coordinated media campaigns, such as
those aimed at cancer prevention or cancer screening, give us the skills,
knowledge and confidence to change our lifestyles for the better, says
Viswanath. Online information has the benefits of providing the reach of a
mass medium with the intimacy of a one-to-one telephone conversation, but we
need to close the gap between the information 'haves' and 'have-nots' to
make this truly effective.
Author contact details:
Kasisomayajula Viswanath (Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 632 2225; E-mail: [email protected]
PRESS CONTACTS...
For media inquiries relating to editorial content/policy for Nature Reviews
Drug Discovery:
Simon Frantz (News Editor, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, London, UK)
Tel: +44 207 843 4742; Email: [email protected]
For media inquiries relating to editorial content/policy for Nature Reviews
Cancer:
Ezzie Hutchinson (Chief Editor, Nature Reviews Cancer, London, UK)
Tel: +44 207 843 3628; Email: [email protected]
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for the Nature Reviews
Journals:
Katharine Mansell (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4658; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd,
dedicated to serving the academic and professional scientific community.
NPG's flagship title, Nature, is the world's most highly-cited weekly
multidisciplinary journal and was first published in 1869. Other
publications include Nature research journals, Nature Reviews, Nature
Clinical Practice, and a range of prestigious academic journals, including
society-owned publications.
NPG is a global company, with headquarters in London and offices in New
York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, Tokyo, Paris, Munich and
Basingstoke. For more information, please go to www.nature.com
