Business
Emerging drug discovery alliance models
The current environment for early-stage drug discovery and development is fluid and the probability of success continues to be challenging.
A
dvancing an idea from an academic or basic research setting into a therapeutic product that benefits patients is time- and capital-intensive, sometimes inefficient and – frus- tratingly often – unsuccessful. This reality has led entities in the early drug discovery and development ecosystem to utilise new alliance-based partnership models to increase their chances of success. These new and emerging models come in many flavours, but generally seek to engage resources where they can make the biggest positive contribution and gen- erate productive collaborations. By bolstering com- munication channels, engineering processes that support the collaboration goals, sharing risk and aligning incentives, these new models have the potential to increase the efficiency and success rate of drug discovery and development.
New and emerging alliance models can get a programme to the summit Success in the drug discovery and development arena is a Sisyphean task. Teams struggle to push a weighty boulder composed of scientific and busi- ness challenges, development costs, regulatory requirements and many other elements up a steep mountain of risk to reach the summit. Each one of us may define the summit differently based on our own individual programmes and/or companies, but ultimately the goal is to have a positive impact on the lives of patients by delivering an effective therapy (Figure 1).
The early phases of drug discovery, the first three to five years of this process, are often the most per- ilous, as teams strive to prove out the scientific validity of their ideas and generate proof of princi- ple, usually while operating on a limited budget and
Drug Discovery World Winter 2017/18
struggling to address resource gaps. At the same time, they need to be constantly monitoring medical need and the competitive landscape, and developing business strategy. The ultimate goal of these early studies is to reach a go or no-go decision for further development, while using the least amount of capi- tal possible. Even in the case of a desired outcome, generating the compelling pre-clinical data that is required to capture a strategic partner or deep- pocketed investor’s attention – necessary to take the asset to the next level – requires considerable time, expertise, resources and capital. In this effort, non- traditional alliance models and alliance innovation can help overcome obstacles and accelerate progress toward the summit.
By Dr Swati Prasad, Mary Louise Bell and Dr Charles McOsker
Research
Preclinical R&D
Phase 1
Proof of Concept
Full Development Commercialization
Opportunity
Figure 1: Non-traditional alliance models are pathways for overcoming obstacles to commercialising innovation
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