Role of Academia in Drug Discovery

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Discovery-Academia
David M. Pollock Medical College of Georgia
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Does an academic career mean that you cannot
contribute to drug discovery?

• No.

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Academic involvement in drug development

• Pre-clinical discovery
• Clinical trials

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Potential Academic Contribution to Pre-clinical
Drug Discovery

• Identification of new chemical entities
• Establish proof of concept/mechanism
• Identification of new drug targets

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Target Validation and Proof of Concept

• Specific animal models and methodology
• Transgenic and knock-out mouse models
• Unique cell line
• DNA probe, antibodies, or other tools
• Use of tool compounds
• Collaborations, grants, licenses

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Ways to Work with Industry

• Collaborating in basic science to drive an
  existing drug discovery target
• Not dependent upon funding from industry
• Industry grant programs
• Studies that require specific experiments
• License agreements

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Key Elements to Foster Collaborations

• Interact with industry scientists
• Need a clear understanding of goals
• Science drives the collaboration - both sides
  must benefit
• New information
• Publications
• Grant support
• Help in drug discovery
• Money should not be the driving force

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Why Collaborations Fail

• Experiments do not turn out as expected
• Failure to understand goals
• Failure to communicate
• Failure to deliver results in a timely fashion
• Experiments cannot be low priority

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Clinical Trials

• Phase II and Phase III clinical trials often use
  patients in medical school hospitals
• Clinical trial results often drive basic science
  research
• Clinical research associates help coordinate and
  design clinical trials

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Developing Industry out of Academia

• Most schools have technology transfer offices
• NIH funding available STTR and SBIR grants
• Low odds of getting a big pharmaceutical company
  to buy your idea unless a relationship is already
  established
• High risk
• unproven approach
• small market
• high development costs