Successfully translating scientific discoveries requires a sense of urgency, which some disease foundations seem to have, and many big pharmas appear to need. Patients waiting expectantly for medical research to produce important new cures are finding bad news almost everywhere they turn.

Patients who take a close look at medical science in search of treatments are often appalled by what they discover. On the one hand, there's academic research, a self-contained and self-absorbed universe of its own where data may be internally consistent (on a good day) and robustly reproducible, yet often has little relevance to real-world clinical conditions.

A study regarding Multiple Sclerosis patients' attitudes about the risks and benefits of drug therapy.

All too often, industry seems to be viewed as the villain, yet industry is ultimately responsible for bringing to the market almost all new medical solutions.

There are good reasons for the European Union to worry about the health of its pharmaceutical firms, but fortunately there are things it can improve.

There is more data out now that helps us look into the correlation between the brain and the phenomenon of addiction.

Too bad we won't be able to sue the trial lawyers when the inevitable deaths happen.

If the conditions that foster medical technology research and development remain in place, future advances will probably dwarf what we have already seen, but health reform legislation in Congress has almost completely ignored the importance of protecting research and development.