Abstract

Driving Innovation in Antibody Discovery and Development through Novel Partnership Models

Robert Williams, Chief Development Scientist, Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK is the largest fundraising medical charity in the world. The organisation supports over 4,000 scientists active across a spectrum of basic, translational and clinical research. The charity’s Centre for Drug Development has taken over 120 new agents into early phase clinical trials including a range of antibody-based biotherapeutics. The charity has a history of taking academic discoveries into clinical investigation, and in recent years has developed risk-sharing partnership models with Biotech and Pharma companies to enable the investigation of drugs shelved due to resource constraints and strategic pipeline prioritisation. The charity also has a rich history in drug discovery and has recently introduced funding streams to support biotherapeutic research and together with MedImmune established a pioneering, collaborative antibody drug discovery laboratory. This initiative aims to translate ideas stemming from the in depth biological knowledge of the Cancer Research UK research community into drug candidates using MedImmune’s proprietary biotherapeutic discovery platforms.