How are deal therapeutic areas/indications classified?

All new deal products (drugs, technologies, research programmes etc.) in the Pharma Deals database are classified using the World Health Organization (WHO) International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10).

If you are interested in looking for deals relating to a particular disease but are uncertain to which therapeutic areait may belong, please visit the ICD-10 website and use their search mechanism.

ICD-10 codes, terms and text © World Health Organization, Second Edition. 2004.

How are older deals classified?

Pharma Deals' editors began classifying deals using WHO ICD-10 in April 2008. We have attempted to "map" older deals to the relevant WHO ICD-10 classification. However, older deals were only classified to a top level therapeutic area. Therefore, a deal relating to Bladder Cancer indexed in Pharma Deals prior to April 2008 would now only be indexed to "Neoplasms", whereas a deal relating to Bladder Cancer indexed since April 2008, will be classified to Neoplasms>Malignant neoplasms of urinary tract>Malignant neoplasm of bladder

Old deals had a text indication field associated with the product. We have attempted to text match these fields to the appropriate ICD-10 classification so that older deals have specific indications associated with them. However, only the most common disease areas were automatically mapped.

It may be worth using Keyword searches to augment your searching.

What financial information do the deals include?

Within each financial search area (Upfront, Milestone etc.) you have the option to search for "Includes..." or "greater than". "Includes" means that we know that the deal includes a particular financial component, but not necessarily the actual value. e.g. A search for "Includes upfront payment" will return deals that have stated they involved an upfront payment. A proportion of these deals will include the actual value of the upfront payment - the remainder will only state that the deal includes an upfront payment.

To search for deals where the financial value of a component is known, a search can be performed for deals where "Upfront payment > 0"

What are Orphan Drugs?

An orphan drug defined as a pharmaceutical agent that has been developed specifically to treat a rare medical condition, the condition itself being referred to as an orphan disease. The assignment of orphan status to a disease and to any drugs developed to treat it is a matter of public policy in many countries.

In Europe, orphan medicinal products are intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions that affect no more than five in 10,000 people in the European Union, or are medicines which, for economic reasons, would be unlikely to be developed without incentives.

The 1983 US Orphan Drug Act: Recognizing that adequate drugs for rare disorders had not been developed in the US, and that drug companies would actually incur a financial loss in developing drugs for rare conditions, the US Congress in 1983 passed the Orphan Drug Act. The Orphan Drug Act offers incentives to induce companies to develop drugs (and other medical products) for the small markets of individuals with rare disorders (in the US, 47% of rare disorders affect fewer than 25,000 people).