Prospective partnerships for industry and academia

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Prospective partnerships for industry and
academia
Emily Gale Medical Research Council
21 November 2013
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MRC mission

• Encourage and support high-quality research with
  the aim of improving human health.
• Produce skilled researchers.
• Advance and disseminate knowledge and technology
  to improve the quality of life and economic
  competitiveness in the UK and worldwide.
• Promote dialogue with the public about medical
  research.

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Post-Comprehensive Spending Review

• Encourage and support high-quality researchwith
  the aim of improving human health.
• Produce skilled researchers.
• Advance and disseminate knowledge andtechnology
  to improve the quality of life andeconomic
  competitiveness in the UK and worldwide.
• Promote dialogue with the public aboutmedical
  research.
• Work with industry to drive economic development

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MRC discoveries and developments

• Rickets caused by lack of vitamin D (1916)
• Discovery and development of penicillin (1940s)
• Pioneered randomised controlled trial design
  (1940s)
• Discovery of link between smoking and cancer
  (1950s)
• Clinical trials for radiotherapy for cancer
  (1960s)
• Clinical trials of chemotherapy for leukaemia
  (1970s)
• Invention of DNA fingerprinting (1980s)
• Gene for Huntingtons disease discovered (1990s)
• Humanised therapeutic antibodies in widespread
  use (2000s)

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MRC investment in research, 2012/13

• MRC research expenditure - 766.9 million in
  12/13
• 343.1m for more than 400 programmes in MRC
  research units and institutes.
• 334.6m on 1,400 grants to researchers in
  universities, medical schools and research
  institutes.
• 71.3m on training and career development.
• 54.2m on individual grants with industry
  partners
• 29.5m on industry/academic consortia

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MRC resources available to researchers from
industry and academia

• MRC research underpins RD
• Patient Research Cohorts Initiative
• UK Biobank
• UK Brain Bank Network
• WT/MRC Stem Cell Centre
• Developing animal models
• FARR Institute
• Clinical trials and methodology resources
• MRC engagement directly with industry

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Current focuses of MRC activity
Discovery and exploratory research
Application and delivery research
MRC lead NIHR lead
Genetics/genomics Structural biology Imaging Syste
ms medicine Global health Ageing life
course Stem cells Infections Population science
Pharmacogenomics Animal/human models Regenerative
medicine
Programmes in Applied research Research for
Patient Benefit Invention for Innovation Service
Delivery and Organisation
Experimental medicine Methodology Global
health Stratified medicine
HTA Trials EME Trials(Late stage III)
Public health E-health
CSO (Scotland) WORD (Wales) HSCNI (Northern
Ireland)
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Where industry and MRC academics meet

• 92 new products and interventions launched onto
  the market.
• Creation or growth of 104 companies, 56 formed
  since 2006.
• 578 patents granted or published since 2006, with
  around 30 licensed.
• More than 100 new industry collaborations are
  reported every year outside of the MRC-mediated
  collaborations.
• Cross-sector MRC funded partnerships

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Types of products and interventionsgenerated by
MRC-supported scientists
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MICA a gateway to funding

• Encouraging and supporting collaborative research
  projects between academic and industry
  researchers.
• Key feature Flexibility
• Level and nature of industry contribution can
  vary
• Companies of any size can participate
• Applies to all MRC funding and fellowship schemes
• Agreement between partners forms part of
  application.
• gt80 awards so far, including collaboration
  involving
• 38 different HEI
• 50 different industry partners

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MICA More thanjust money

• MenBioVax meningitis vaccine developed by ImmBio
  with TSB funding following a collaborative
  programme with Bristol Medical School
• MRC DPFS funding to take MenBioVax through
  preclinical studies

• There arent many other sources of funding for
  this type of project in the UK. It brings more
  than just money, of course. Its important for
  potential investors to be able to see that bodies
  like the MRC have confidence in our technology
  and products.
• Graham Clarke, ImmBio CEO

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MICA A very positive experience

• Evaluation of a potential biomarker for
  idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
• Collaboration between scientists at University of
  Nottingham, GlaxoSmithKline and Queen Mary,
  University of London
• We all believe in the target but each of us has
  only one piece of the jigsaw.

MICA is a tremendous initiative that will
accelerate the development of new drugs to meet
clinical needs. Dr Andy Blanchard Director of
External Discovery, GSK
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MICA numbers on the rise
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MRC working with industry

• MRC engages directly with industry
• DSTT
• MRC/ABPI Inflammation and Immunology Initiative
• Stratified Medicines Innovation Platform
• MRC promotes partnerships and translational
  science
• MRC/AZ Mechanisms of disease
• Confidence in Concept
• DPFS/DCS
• BMC Biomedical Catalyst
• Bioinformatics call
• Experimental Medicine Challenge Grants
• PPP in Europe

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Inflammation and Immunology Initiative

• A new way of funding from the MRC
• Collaboration with ABPI
• Disease-focused workshops
• COPD
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Brought together experts from academia and
  industry
• Identified research priorities
• Ear-marked funds for research consortiums to
  address barriers and exploit opportunities
• MRC invested 9.5m over four years

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Stratified Medicine Consortia

• Disease-focused cross-sector consortia
• Pitzalis
• Gauchers disease
• Hepatitis C
• Psoriasis
• Schizophrenia
• Primary Biliary Cirrosis
• MRC invested 50m over four years
• Exploiting existing expertise and clinical
  research infrastructure
• Aim to provide a dynamic platform for disease
  focused research

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RA Partners
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MRC working with industry

• MRC engages directly with industry
• DSTT
• MRC/ABPI Inflammation and Immunology Initiative
• Stratified Medicines Innovation Platform
• MRC promotes partnerships and translational
  science
• MRC/AZ Mechanisms of disease
• Confidence in Concept
• DPFS/DCS
• BMC Biomedical Catalyst
• Experimental Medicine Challenge Grants
• PPP in Europe

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Products and interventions by pipeline stage
Initial development
Refinement, Non-clinical
Market authorisation
Refinement, Clinical
Early clinical assessment
Late clinical evaluation
Small-scale adoption
Wide-scale adoption
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Investable opportunities

• Over 600 projects developing new products or
  interventions - at all stages of development
  have been reported
• 110 have reached the market since 2006
• For the first time we can track all of these,
  noting which are active, closed, seeking support,
  and which are progressing
• 75 of projects are prior to the valley of
  death, 25 after
• Around 80 would benefit from further investment
  so could be investable opportunities
• The first year in which we published this data
  (2011) the three hundred development projects
  were used by the science minister as an example
  of the untapped potential that the biomedical
  catalyst could unlock

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General Objectives of IMI 2

• To provide European citizens with timely access
  to new and effective diagnostics and treatments
  that improve their health and wellbeing
• Helping safeguard the future international
  competitiveness of the European biopharmaceutical
  industry and secure growth and jobs.

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Innovative Medicines InitiativeJoining forces
in the healthcare sector
The European Union and the pharmaceutical
industry have joined forces to make drug RD
processes in Europe more innovative and
efficient, enhance Europes competitiveness
address key societal challenges by forming the
biggest PPP in Life Science

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COMBACTE CLIN-Network 280 members and Candidate
members
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22 million euros awarded to UK SMEs
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1 in 4 UK SME applicants are successful in IMI
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Thinking about cross-sector collaboration

• Bioinformatics
• Computer science
• Data management
• Diagnostics
• Engineering
• Microscopy/scanning
• Clinical biology

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Thank you for your attention
Emily Gale emily.gale_at_headoffice.mrc.ac.uk
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Translation

• What is it? Turning discoveries into clinical
  benefits, while maintaining the basic research
  that drives it.
• The MRCs translational strategy
• builds on the MRCs existing role in pushing
  forward basic knowledge to improve peoples
  health and wealth
• strengthens the support and oversight of the
  translational processes

Prototype discovery and design
Basic medical research
Late clinical trials
Early clinical trials
Pre-clinical development
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Translation of basic research takes time

• 1973 Mouse antibodies isolated by César Milstein
  and George Köhler (MRC Laboratory of Molecular
  Biology)
• 1986 Michael Neuberger and Sir Greg Winter
  humanise mouse antibodies
• Sir Greg develops and patents technology for
  producing antibodies in vitro
• 2003 MRC-developed Humira licensed to treat UK
  arthritis patients
• 2008 21 monoclonal antibody drugs on market for
  treating breast cancer, leukaemia, asthma,
  arthritis, psoriasis and transplant rejection
• 2011 Antibodies make up 1/3 of new drugs for
  cancer, arthritis and asthma global antibody
  market estimated to be worth 40bn

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MRC spend by research activity, 2010/11
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MRC spend by health category, 2010/11