BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Timelines illustrate links between fundamental science, innovative therapies

April 25, 2018 6:05 PM UTC

In a paper published in Science Translational Medicine, Harvard University's Mark Fishman and co-authors from the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) unit of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN) wrote that 80% of the 28 "most transformative" FDA-approved drugs were made possible by a handful of fundamental scientific discoveries made decades earlier.

The team wrote that most key drugs are based on discoveries made "without regard to practical outcome," and whose relevance did not become apparent for decades...