The Future of Specialty Drugs

(Part of a series)

Molecular biology is the field that overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interrelationship of DNA, RNA and protein synthesis and learning how these interactions are regulated. Researchers in molecular biology use specific techniques native to molecular biology, but increasingly combine these with techniques and ideas from genetics and biochemistry. There is not a hard-line between these disciplines as there once was.

Molecular biology is the study of molecular underpinnings of the process of replication, transcription and translation of the genetic material. The central dogma of molecular biology where genetic material is transcribed into RNA and then translated into protein, despite being an oversimplified picture of molecular biology, still provides a good starting point for understanding the field. Much of the work in molecular biology is quantitative, and recently much work has been done at the interface of molecular biology and computer science in bioinformatics and computational biology. As of the early 2000s, the study of gene structure and function, molecular genetics, has been amongst the most prominent sub-field of molecular biology. Some of this study could lead to not only specialty drugs, but customized specialty drugs that take an even more targeted approach to curing chronic diseases. This as always pushes up the cost and the reimbursement for these drugs, but the end result could be people living longer and continuing to function in society.

Some of the major pharmacy benefit managers are beginning to tout their knowledge and expertise in this area to attract new business.

More to come….