September 2020

Over the past 100 years, the bacteria samples that make up the National Collection of Type Cultures in the UK have played a vital role in advancing medicine. As the collection celebrates its centenary, we take a look back at the history of this living museum. Looking to modern drug development, we explore the promise of the gut-brain axis as a drug target for gastrointestinal disorders, neurological diseases and mental health conditions.

Also, we get up close with the horseshoe crab to find out why the pharma industry is so reliant on its icy blue blood for safety tests, unpack the complicated topic of puberty blockers to sift the fact from fiction when it comes to these controversial drugs, and take a look at the future of recruitment in pharma, could the industry’s role in tackling Covid-19 help bring more young talent into the sector?

Plus, we examine the findings of Faller Packaging’s recently published sustainability report to learn more about sustainable packaging in pharma, review recent attempts to develop drugs for rare diseases, and debate whether drugs discovered by AI can be patented.