A Virtuous Balance Between Pure and Applied Science

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APRU Presidents Meeting 22-24 June 2006
Shifts in Biomedical Innovation
A Virtuous Balance Between Pure and Applied
Science
Will Delaat Managing Director
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Creating Breakthrough Medicines from Cutting-Edge
Science

• 9,500 research employees
• gt100 years of innovation
• (eg antibiotics / anti-infectives, thiazide
  diuretics, anti-arthritics, antihypertensives,
  statins, HIV medicines, vaccines)
• 250-300 patent applications per year
• Nearly 4Bn in RD spend last year (1 of world
  RD)
• 20 new medicines / vaccines since 1995

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Mercks History of Innovation

• We try never to forget that medicine is for the
  people. It is not for profits If we have
  remembered that, the profits have never failed
  to appear. How can we bring the best of medicine
  to each and every person? . We cannot step aside
  and say that we have achieved our goal by
  inventing a new drug or a new way by which to
  treat presently incurable diseases . We cannot
  rest till the way has been found, with our help,
  to bring our finest achievement to everyone.
• - George W. Merck,
• 1951

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Shifts in Biomedical RD

• In approach technology
• In partnering - the interplay between
  universities, biotechs and pharmaceutical
  companies
• In the study of life sciences.

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A shift in the approach to biomedical RD
technology
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Eras in Drug Discovery

• Pre-1990s Drugs discovered not designed
• Resource intensive screening of biologically
  active compounds
• 1990s Molecular biology in full swing
• The Biotechnology Era begins
• 2000 The Dawn of Genomics
• 5,000-10,000 potential drug targets identified

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The 90s Biotechnology Era

• 500 targets identified in 1990s (receptors
  enzymes)
• Synthesis of compounds
• rDNA
• MAb
• Structure-based drug design
• Combinatorial chemistry
• High Throughput Screening

A simple enzyme(alcohol dehydrogenase)
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The New Millennium The Dawn of Genomics
Genomics will have a major impact on drug
discovery and development and will change the
way that medicine is practiced.
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The Pace of Discovery

• After Human Genome comprehensive sequence was
  published in 2001
• Key Milestones have been
• Advances in Structural Biology
• 3D structures in days and weeks, not months and
  years
• Rapid generation of Monoclonal Antibodies
• humanized mice phage libraries
• RNA interference
• profiles as genome sensors
• Proteomics
• approaching required bandwidth
• Pharmacogenomics
• as the basis for response/non response
• Engineering Sciences, Informatics
• dramatically influencing biological sciences
  (UHTS Bioinformatics)
• Biomarkers
• Predict response, disease resistance or toxicity

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A shift towards greater partnering - the
interplay between universities, biotechs and
pharmaceutical companies
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Number of Biomedical Alliances 1990 to 2005
Source Recap June 2006
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Shifts In Pharma Value Chain
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Five Enablers For Innovation

• Merck has identified five key conditions
  necessary for successful innovation
• A market based on competition, customer choice
  and a pricing structure that rewards innovation.
• Effective intellectual property protection
• Regulatory systems that put patients first by
  approving effective and safe new drugs for
  critical diseases as rapidly as possible.
• A global business environment based on
  free-market principles and the rule of law.
• Continued government support of basic biomedical
  research

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Life Science Cluster Partnerships are critical
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San Diego Cluster Partners - Research Institutes
The Scripps Research Institute
Burnham Institute
Sidney Kimmel
Neurosciences Institute
La Jolla Institute of Allergies and Immunology
UCSD
Scripps Institute of Oceanography
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San Diego Cluster Partners- Pharma Companies
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Cluster Partners - Boston
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Harvard Universitys View of Strategic
Partnerships

• This agreement is an example of the kind of
  strategic partnerships that we like to build with
  an industrial partner to bring fundamental
  research forward as a potential new therapy.
• By combining the licensing rights and the
  expertise behind the original findings, and
  partnering with a leading company such as Merck,
  we can advance this research into clinical
  development and application much faster than
  would otherwise by possible.
• Isaac T. Kohlberg, Head,
• Technology Development Office, Harvard University
  - 2004

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A shift in the study of life sciences
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State of Chemistry in Australian Universities
Chemistry, Biology and Physical Science
University Studentsas a percentage of all
University Students
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International Perspective on Science Graduates

• Within the university context, the number of
  science graduates as a proportion of all
  graduates in the US is low compared with other
  OECD countries. In 2000, for example, only about
  one-sixth of the total number of university
  degrees conferred was in science compared with
  one-quarter of all degrees in the EU and in
  Japan.
• (OECD, 2004)
• In South Korea, 38 of all undergraduates
  receive their degrees in science or engineering.
  In France, the figure is 47, in China, 50 and
  in Singapore 67. In the United States, the
  corresponding figure is 15.
• (National Academies of Sciences, 2006)
• Some 34 of doctoral degrees in sciences in the
  United States are awarded to foreign-born
  students. In the US, science and technology
  workforce in 2000, 38 were foreign born.
• (National Academies of Sciences, 2006)

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UK Looking Overseas for Science Graduates

• UK companies are starting to recruit science
  graduates from overseas rather than rely on the
  home market because they have a larger pool of
  high calibre students to choose from.
• China is producing 300,000 graduates every year
  in science, technology, engineering and
  mathematics three times the number coming
  through UK universities.
• India has 450,000 engineering undergraduates in
  the current academic year alone.
• Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
• March 2006

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Recruitment of Science Graduates to Industry
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Pharma Industry Largest Employer of Science
Graduates (USA)
Sectors employing newly graduated chemists in the
US (2002).Adapted from Chemistry and Engineering
News (Mehta. 2003)
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What Can Universities Do To Support Biomedical
Innovation

• Universities can help to
• Commercialise innovations via licences, strong
  patents and establishing start-ups
• Assemble multi-disciplinary consulting teams for
  international development projects
• Provide a wide range of consulting, testing,
  expert opinion and advisory services as well as
  research and development projects.
• Promulgate the importance of science-based careers

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In summary

• Drug Discovery is entering an exciting new era
• It requires
• a healthy interplay between pure and applied
  science
• a steady flow of talent from academia
• an entrepreneurial spirit
• the capital, know-how and creativity of Big
  Pharma

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