Ante drug

Figure 20.11 Ante-drug design concept and the structure of vilanterol.

T. I. WiUiams, Drugs from P/ants Sigma, London, 1947, p. 87 L. S. Goodman and A. Gilman, The Pharmaco/ogica/Basis of Therapeutics A. Textbook of... 

SUM MARY DRUG TABLE NONSTEROIDAL ANT I-IN FLAM MATORY DRUGS (C nf/nued ... 

SUMMARY DRUG TABLE ANTI EM ETIC AND ANT I VERT I GO DRUGS (Omtinued)... 

Constipation related to adverse drug etfeds (aluminum- or calaum-containing ant adds)... 

When tested, the antibiotic compounds killed or inhibited the growth of two varieties of E. coli but had no effect on several other types of cells. These results show that in response to bacterial infection the ants elaborated an antibiotic that was selectively toxic to the pathogen. Their defense was tailored closely to their need. It is too soon to know more, but it seems that looking for new antibiotics in ants is a promising idea. Further research should establish whether ant antibiotics will lead to drugs for human use and also reveal whether other crowded species also synthesize antibiotics. 

Researchers in end-to-end systems are not paid until after they have sunk their costs. This increases the incentive for sponsors to renege, since a researcher with sunk R D costs can usually be persuaded to sell drugs at a price that barely covers its manufacturing costs. Knowing this dynamic, a rational company may refuse to invest at all unless it receives some combination of (a) contractual and practical assurances that the sponsor will not renege and (b) an additional premium to cover any remaining risk of default. From the sponsor s perspective, this creates an inherent trade-off between the flexibility needed to adjust rewards ex post to reflect true value of drugs and the size of the reward that must be offered ex ante to elicit R D in the first place. 

To understand this apparent nonsense, let us look at an analogy. Instead of drugs and blood let us substitute water and ants eggs. 

Deaths with antipsychotics in elderly patients with behavioral disturbances. Available at WWW. fda gov/cder/drug/advisory/ant ipsychotics.htm. 

The adverse effects of these drugs are potentially the same as for the tricyclic antidepress ants but tend to be much less frequent and... 

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