Whether you are a drug manufacturer, a drug rep, a distributor or a doctor, experimental drugs play a huge roll in our economy today. From prescription drugs for such maladies such as erectile dysfunction to depression to sleep deprivation to cancer and more, clinical research trials abound to find the next big pharmaceutical thing to win over the market and stock holders or cure what ails our nation.

Alternative drugs and alternative treatment are also becoming popular. Steering away from synthetic materials and sticking with organic materials are becoming increasingly mainstream. Whatever the treatment, it generally requires FDA clinical trials to approve the drug on the market.

To make the most of available resources on experimental drugs:

1. Look at information on drug clinical trials.

2. Check out resources on alternative drugs and alternative medicine.

3. Take advantage of additional experimental drug resources.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find out about ongoing drug clinical trials

Learn about clinical trials study that are going on in a particular medical field or intervention type. Find out what is coming through major and minor pharmaceutical pipelines to see what your competitors are doing.

I recommend: Use the Drug R&D Pipeline Database from Pharmaprojects to run a multitude of search capabilities. Search clinical trials by drug or intervention through ClinicalTrials.gov. Look at clinical trial listings by medical area through CenterWatch. Visit a national organization's site like the National Cancer Institute for more information in that particular field.

Find information on alternative drugs and alternative treatment

Take advantage of resources on alternative treatment and medicine as an alternative to standard Western medical practices.

I recommend: Find listings of alternative drugs by category from RxList. Learn about the many resources available in complementary and alternative drugs and medicine from U.S. National Library of Medicine. Locate information on clinical trials done by the federal government's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).

Find out about additional experimental drugs resource tools

Researchers can learn more about regulations and planning for their clinical trials from one of the many available online tools.

I recommend: Follow the FDA/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Investigational New Drug (IND) Application Process. Use the Investigational Drugs database to help you with licensing, strategic planning, clinical development, discovery research, knowledge management, business development and more. NCI Investigational Drugs provides information on chemical and physical data on compounds that are either past or current development candidates in the Developmental Therapeutics Program. Subscribe to IDrugs for up to the minute reports on breakthroughs in the drug development field.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Consider hiring a consultant to help you through the regulation process of your clinical trials and development of experimental drugs. Let them help you wade through all of the appropriate paperwork and meet all of the appropriate deadlines.