LIFE-SAVING EMORY DRUGS

The Pandemic Pill

MOLNUPIRAVIR: 1st antiviral pill approved for use against COVID-19.

Wisdom To Pivot

BARICITINIB: Turning an existing drug to use against COVID-19.

Increased Success For Transplant Patients

BELATACEPT became the new standard of care in kidney transplant.

SERVING PATIENTS, FIRST AND FOREMOST

OBIZUR, an orphan drug, proved a gamechanger for individuals with acquired hemophilia A.

Taming An Old Foe

EPIVIR-HBV: 1st drug approved for hepatitis B infections.

Hiv No Longer A Death Sentence

EPIVIR AND EMTRIVA: Most HIV patients in the US take these drugs, which have helped increase life expectancy from 39 years in 1996–1997 to 77 years in 2014–2016.

Skirting The Many Roads To Failure

As medications go, molnupiravir’s development— propelled by the pandemic—was rapid. It took only eight years from the time Painter started developing the drug to the time the FDA issued emergency authorization. Most drugs are tortoises, taking an average of ten years or longer to reach the public. The vast majority don’t finish the race.

“Most drug discoveries never go to market,” says Deborah Watkins Bruner, Emory’s senior vice president of research. “It’s only a very small percentage that make it through that entire pipeline, from animal trials to human trials to licensing to FDA approval to commercialization.”