The productivity crisis in pharmaceuticals is an important problem that should be seriously addressed by academic scientists and NIH administrators. It is true that most academic scientists avidly practice the reductionist approach and tend to neglect the big picture. However, in light of the crisis, that should change. To stimulate such a change, scientists should see publications addressing big picture issues, and specifi cally publications which present analyses of the productivity crisis in pharmaceuticals.Although the public media recently published a series of articles reporting the crisis, so far, the peer-reviewed professional journals tended to avoid the issue.There seems to be a consensus that there is no successful drug discovery without easonable biology.The Drug industry in “Depression” paper provides an opportunity to balance the picture and entice discussions on the relationships between academic research practices, NIH policies, and success in drug discovery. Academia and the drug industry must adopt a unifi ed biomedical research approach rather than a multitude of what appears to be unrelated reduction methodologies, especially
the basic science/biology end of it.

Keywords: Academies and Institutes - economics, Academies and Institutes - trends, Drug Industry - economics, Drug Industry - trends, Research Support - economics, Academies and Institutes - trends, Biomedical Research - trends, Drug Industry - trends, Interinstitutional Relations, Periodicals as Topic - trends, Research Support as Topic - trends