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Heme oxygenase (HO-2) is an enzyme mainly involved in the physiologic turnover of heme and intracellular gas sensing, and it is very abundant in the brain, testes, kidneys and vessels. Since 1990, when HO-2 was discovered, the scientific community has underestimated the role of this protein in health and disease, as attested by the small amount of articles published and citations received. One of the reason that have contributed to the lack of interest in HO-2 was the difficulty in upregulating or inhibiting this enzyme. However, over the last 10 years, novel HO-2 agonists and antagonists have been synthesized, and the availability of these pharmacological tools should increase the appeal of HO-2 as drug target. In particular, these agonists and antagonists could help explain some controversial aspects, such as the neuroprotective versus neurotoxic roles of HO-2 in cerebrovascular diseases. Furthermore, the discovery of HO-2 genetic variants and their involvement in Parkinson's disease, in particular in males, opens new avenues for pharmacogenetic studies in gender medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To create a review of the published scientific literature on the benefits and potential perspectives of the use of 3D bio-nitrification in the field of pharmaceutics. This work was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for reporting meta-analyses and systematic reviews. The scientific databases PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect were used to search and extract data using the following keywords: 3D bioprinting, drug research and development, personalized medicine, pharmaceutical companies, clinical trials, drug testing. The data points to several aspects of the application of bioprinting in pharmaceutics were reviewed. The main applications of bioprinting are in the development of new drug molecules as well as in the preparation of personalized drugs, but the greatest benefits are in terms of drug screening and testing. Growth in the field of 3D printing has facilitated pharmaceutical applications, enabling the development of personalized drug screening and drug delivery systems for individual patients. Bioprinting presents the opportunity to print drugs on demand according to the individual needs of the patient, making the shape, structure, and dosage suitable for each of the patient's physical conditions, i.e., print specific drugs for controlled release rates; print porous tablets to reduce swallowing difficulties; make transdermal microneedle patches to reduce patient pain; and so on. On the other hand, bioprinting can precisely control the distribution of cells and biomaterials to build organoids, or an Organ-on-a-Chip, for the testing of drugs on printed organs mimicking specified disease characteristics instead of animal testing and clinical trials. The development of bioprinting has the potential to offer customized drug screening platforms and drug delivery systems meeting a range of individualized needs, as well as prospects at different stages of drug development and patient therapy. The role of bioprinting in preclinical and clinical testing of drugs is also of significant importance in terms of shortening the time to launch a medicinal product on the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research and development (R&D) of nanodrugs is a long, complex and uncertain process. Since the 1960s, computing has been used as an auxiliary tool in the field of drug discovery. Many cases have proven the practicability and efficiency of computing in drug discovery. Over the past decade, computing, especially model prediction and molecular simulation, has been gradually applied to nanodrug R&D, providing substantive solutions to many problems. Computing has made important contributions to promoting data-driven decision-making and reducing failure rates and time costs in discovery and development of nanodrugs. However, there are still a few articles to examine, and it is necessary to summarize the development of the research direction. In the review, we summarize application of computing in various stages of nanodrug R&D, including physicochemical properties and biological activities prediction, pharmacokinetics analysis, toxicological assessment and other related applications. Moreover, current challenges and future perspectives of the computing methods are also discussed, with a view to help computing become a high-practicability and -efficiency auxiliary tool in nanodrugs discovery and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This review aims to present briefly the new horizon opened to pharmacology by the deep learning (DL) technology, but also to underline the most important threats and limitations of this method. Material and Methods: We searched multiple databases for articles published before May 2021 according to the preferred reported item related to deep learning and drug research. Out of the 267 articles retrieved, we included 49 in the final review Results: DL and other different types of artificial intelligence have recently entered all spheres of science, taking an increasingly central position in the decision-making processes, also in pharmacology. Hence, there is a need for better understanding of these technologies. The basic differences between AI (artificial intelligence), DL and ML (machine learning) are explained. Additionally, the authors try to highlight the role of deep learning methods in drug research and development as well as in improving the safety of pharmacotherapy. Finally, future directions of DL in pharmacology were outlined as well as possible misuses of it. Conclusion: DL is a promising and powerful tool for comprehensive analysis of big data related to all fields of pharmacology, however it has to be used carefully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory agencies installed orphan drug regulations to stimulate research and development of new innovative treatments for life-threatening diseases with a low prevalence (rare diseases). We established a list of well-known food-related ingredients with clinical evidence for rare diseases in the open medical literature that obtained marketing authorization as an expensive "orphan drug", protected by intellectual property (IP) rights. We show that these ingredients are part of an established practice of medicinal compounding—a form of point of care manufacturing. We argue that these ingredients should be considered as "pharmaceutical commons", and that regulatory incentives for private companies and market protection mechanisms such as IP rights are not justified in this case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]