Pharmaceutical innovations: the grand challenges ahead

Abstract

Copyright © 2020 Aroeira and Castanho. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.Lifestyles are evolving rapidly due to swiftly evolving technologies rapid exchange of information across the globe, and facilitated mobility of people across long distances. In addition, climate changes accelerate the geographical dynamics of disease. The result is that both communicable and non-communicable diseases pose challenges never faced before and the perception of the way pharmaceutical sciences are dealing with such changes is under unprecedented scrutiny. The discredit in science-based solutions has a tremendous societal impact and is detrimental to evidence-based pharmacology at large. Pharmaceutical innovation that target the needs of healthy living and meet the expectation of society are urgently needed and are a worthy effect of both industrial and academic researchers. A reflection on the grand challenges ahead in thus timely and appropriate.This work was supported by La Caixa Foundation (grant reference: IMM/BPD/107-2018 to RA).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio