Novel Frontiers in the Production of Compounds for Biomedical Use

The present book entitled ¿Novel Frontiers in the Production of Compounds for Biomedical Uses¿ can perhaps be placed in its best perspective by the Shakespearean character in The Tempest who exclaimed" What¿s past is prologue¿. Indeed, this compilation of some of the outstanding presentations in the field of biomedicine made at th the 9 European Congress on Biotechnology (Brussels, Belgium, July 11-15, 1999) not only reflects the achievements of the recent past, but provides a privileged glimpse of the biotechnology that is emerging in the first decade of the new Millennium. It is becoming increasingly apparent that biotechnology is offering biomedicine novel approaches and solutions to develop a sorely needed new generation of biopharmaceuticals. This is all the more necessary because in recent years, new diseases have emerged with extraordinary lethality in all corners of the globe, while age-related chronic illnesses have filled the gap wherever biomedicine has made successful inroads. The rise of antibiotic resistance also poses major threats to public health. Thus, as disease patterns evolve, the rational development of new drugs is becoming urgent, not only for the clinical outcome of patients, but also in optimising the allocation of scarce health care resources through the use of cost-effective productions methods. It is in response to all these challenges that biotechnology offers new strategies that go beyond the more traditional approaches. By the mid-1990¿s, the number of recombinant products approved annually for therapeutic use reached double digits. With the advent of the genomics revolution.