Development of new drugs for the treatment of respiratory diseases: from concept to the clinic

Chronic inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract remain a considerable healthcare burden with continuing unmet medical needs despite the availability of well established inhaled therapies. A wide array of new drugs are under development for the treatment of respiratory diseases and this article seeks to illustrate the pre-clinical experimental approaches used for the evaluation of new drugs for the treatment of asthma and COPD, from the identification of a new idea to a clinical proof of concept. The article focuses on the contribution of the Sackler Institute of Pharmacology group at King’s College London in the development of new drugs by reviewing the discovery pharmacology and describing the current stage of development of four classes of drugs: phosphodiesterase inhibitors, adenosine receptor antagonists, anti-inflammatory polysaccharides and anti-inflammatory drugs that act on platelets. The close collaborations between industry and academic groups that have facilitated the development of these agents towards new therapies is proposed as an academic model for the development of medicines of the future.