An Exploratory Analysis of Pharmaceutical Drugs as Basic Research Tools

Drug development is usually seen as following a more or less linear path from publicly subsidized basic research to costly preclinical and clinical research by for-profit firms, which usually fails but occasionally succeeds in bringing highly profitable drugs to market. This study describes an additional feedback process in which pharmaceutical drugs serve as research tools. Diverse examples illustrate that the tools function of pharmaceuticals supports important advances in basic research. These often lead in turn to practical uses including new drug development.