"The more we can understand shapes of proteins in our bodies and the shapes of potential drugs interacting with the shapes of proteins, the better we can attempt to develop new medicines," said futurist Ramez Naam, a former Microsoft software developer.
Last summer, Congress approved Bioshield, a $5.6 billion program of incentives to industry to develop new medicines to cope with the threat.
Some commentators fear that if imports became widespread, the industry would be unable to afford to develop new medicines.
These are small creatures but they nevertheless mimic many human cognitive attributes and have already helped develop new medicines.
Some companies that have long been established in the state are expanding to keep up in the race to develop new medicines.
Post-Brexit, it is even more important that we have continued inward investment in life sciences to develop new medicines for future healthcare innovation".
"Biotech companies don't develop new medicines much more quickly or economically than pharma companies do," says the report, which is published today.
The drug maker Merck & Company said yesterday that it would acquire the biotechnology company Rosetta Inpharmatics Inc. for about $620 million in stock to use its genomic research tools to develop new medicines.
Every year, Pfizer, the world's largest drug company, spends about $7 billion to develop new medicines, more than any other drug maker and almost a quarter as much as the United States government.
They will have to be prepared to pay full prices, set high enough to ensure that drug companies have an incentive to develop new medicines, including those for typical poor-country ailments.
This chapter has provisions that will make it easier for pharmaceutical companies to get patents, including in developing countries; have these patents for more years; and extend the ability of these companies to limit access to the scientific data that is necessary for other researchers to develop new medicines.
