Biological revolution, molecular medicine and the future of biotechnology

The explosion of knowledge in the biological sciences over the last two decades has accelerated our understanding of the mechanisms of human disease. This knowledge is now being exploited to develop drugs for diseases that we still know how to treat poorly. This conference described how the spectacular progress in our knowledge of cancer, from the early 1990s onwards, has stimulated the development of hundreds of anti-cancer drugs, which are currently in clinical trials. Other fields of pathology are also opening up to this approach, notably immunology, infectious diseases and metabolic diseases. Neurology is lagging behind, despite definite progress in the understanding of neurodegenerative diseases, but the understanding of psychiatric disorders is still in its infancy. The challenges facing industry in exploiting this new knowledge were discussed. A drug discovery model based on the organization of scientific research at Genentech was presented.