Showing papers in "Hospital progress in 1957"

Trends in drug therapy.

Abstract: Trends in drug therapy are reflected at any given time by the type and variety of therapeutic agents recently developed for clinical use. They are mirrored also by newly found applications or unexpected hazards encountered in the use of older drugs. To the extent that new drugs and new knowledge of older drugs represent advances in therapy, or embody a new approach to clinical problems, they are likely to influence therapeutics. The interplay of influence between the new and the old ultimately shapes the relative importance of additions to the therapeutic armamentarium. Since I do not have a crystal ball by which to judge the future, it seems best to limit this presentation to a brief review of recent developments from which you may judge the degree to which they are indicative of trends in this important field. In any survey of this kind one is impressed by both the number and variety of recently introduced drugs as well as the diversity of clinical conditions for which they are proposed. Although, in general, new advances are apt to follow the pattern of prior discoveries and further investigations are likely to proceed most intensively in the areas where new drugs are sorely needed, modern methods for screening large numbers of potential new therapeutic agents, have greatly expanded the capacity for developing new compounds. In today's rapidly expanding field of therapeutics, it is virtually impossible to cover all of the areas in which improvements have been made or are being sought. Some of the minor additions to drug therapy can be viewed as the result of competitive effort on the part of industry which tends to stimulate the introduction of numerous similar-acting compounds. Such variants often exhibit slightly different, though not necessarily improved properties. Others, which are more distinctive, can be expected to exert a greater impact on therapeutics. In the brief time allotted, it seems best to confine this subject to the principal areas in which investigation appears to offer some promise of future advances. Some of the compounds mentioned are not available except for investigational use, and no attempt is made to document all sources of information.