Astana, Apr 27 (EFE).- The steep costs of research and development for new pharmaceuticals could lead to the abandonment of these projects and a future scarcity of innovative medicines, award-winning French scientist Pascal Mayer warned on Saturday at the opening of the Nobel Fest in Kazakhstan’s capital.
“Experts fear that due to the high cost of developing new drugs, it may not be economically viable for investors to fund these endeavors. The world could face a halt in the development of new medications,” Mayer said.
Mayer, winner of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences 2022 for his discovery of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, stressed that “good medicines are products that cost a tremendous amount of money, and financing is key in this field.”
He noted that the pharmaceutical sector currently needs a “revolution” to change drug development approaches.
He also highlighted the importance of moving away from antibiotics, which, although lifesaving today, may become ineffective in the future due to increasing bacterial resistance.
His team is currently exploring the potential for treatments based on combinations of edible plants, which have minimal or no contraindications and do not affect other parts of the body during treatment.
According to Mayer, out of the 3,000 edible plants studied, 10 to 20 combinations have proven to be effective treatments.
“We could use artificial intelligence to identify these effective combinations of edible plants,” he said.
Astana is hosting the Nobel Fest for the first time, aiming to foster the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and technologies to advance medicine and improve public health worldwide.
The event features prominent scientists, Nobel laureates, medical industry entrepreneurs, students, government representatives, and medical institutions. EFE