Drugs

Translational Science Benefits

Clinical

Community

Economic

Policy

Clinical & medical benefits (Tools & products)

Definition

Pharmaceutical products for human or veterinary use intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent health conditions. They may be prescribed by a doctor or available for purchase without a prescription.

Rationale

New drugs developed as a result of translational research are a critical component to shorten the time from scientific discovery to useful clinical applications.

Guidance

Advice from authors on searching for information:

Self-reported knowledge of research study researchers is helpful to document new drug development in progress and for tracking drugs that have demonstrated efficacy in pre-clinical or clinical studies, those that have gained FDA approval, or those that are currently in use in clinical applications for the treatment of a disease, condition, or disorder.

Resources & Data

Organizations, repositories, websites, and other sources where you can find more information:

Local

Center for Research Innovation in Biotechnology. The Center for Research Innovation in Biotechnology provides a database of new molecular entities approved by the FDA, including information on their sponsors, indications, and targets.
Office of Technology Management at Washington University (OTM). The OTM Technology Catalog allows for searching of new drugs developed by researchers at Washington University and lists the drug name, a description of the drug, patent status, and researcher/s name.

General

ClinicalTrials.gov. ClinicalTrials.gov is a registry and results database. It allows for searching for specific drugs, diseases, conditions, and study titles among others. It has study data from over 200 countries.
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL). CENTRAL provides searchable reports of randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials as noted in MEDLINE, Embase, and from other published and unpublished sources.
Drugs@FDA. Drugs@FDA lists most prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drug products approved since 1939. Drugs@FDA helps consumers find generic equivalents and other possible appropriate alternatives to their approved products as well as the product’s drug label. Drugs@FDA Demo provides an overview of using Drugs@FDA.
Green Book. The FDA “Green Book” contains a list of all FDA approved animal drug products.
Orange Book. The FDA “Orange Book” contains drugs approved by FDA under New Drug Applications (NDAs) and Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs).
WHO Pharmaceutical Products. WHO Pharmaceutical Products lists current drugs in pharmaceutical use by world region.
WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines. WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines provides information on drugs considered essential by the organization

Data Limitations

Challenges you may encounter while searching for information:

Access to self-reported researcher or administrative/in-house data may be required to locate documentation.

Publications

Articles, books, and other publications in translational science using the indicator:

Buxton M, Hanney S. How can payback from health services research be assessed? J Health Serv Res Policy 1996;1(1):35-43. doi: 10.1177/135581969600100107.
Donovan C, Butler L, Butt AJ, et al. Evaluation of the impact of National Breast Cancer Foundation-funded research. Med J Aust. 2014;200(4):214-218. doi: 10.5694/mja13.10798.
Hanney SR, Watt A, Jones TH, et al. Conducting retrospective impact analysis to inform a medical research charity’s funding strategies: the case of Asthma UK. Allergy Asthma Clin Immunol. 2013;9:17. doi: 10.1186/1710-1492-9-17.
Kuruvilla S, Mays N, Pleasant A, et al. Describing the impact of health research: a research impact framework. BMC Health Serv Res. 2006 Oct 18;6:134. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-6-134.

Case Studies