New drugs and new targets

At the 8th World Congress on Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, held August 1-6, 2004, in Queensland, Australia, there were late-breaking news symposia on presynaptic receptors as targets in the treatment of schizophrenia; cyclooxygenase inhibition, present and future; adiposity, drug treatment and causes; G-protein-coupled receptors, important new targets; osteoporosis, causes, prevention and cures; ischemic stroke; drugs and arrhythmias, causes and cures; and the pharmacology of cardiac protection. One of the plenary lectures was of targeted cancer therapies. The new drugs and new targets for therapeutic intervention from these presentations are discussed in this report.