Abstract

Rise in Academic Drug Discovery

Barbara Slusher, Director/President, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

The past decade has seen a landscape change in drug discovery.  Historically academic laboratories conducted basic science, discovering new targets of medical interest. The pharmaceutical industry subsequently validated those targets and translated them into new medicines.  Today these lines have blurred. With an estimated $1-2 billion, 15-20 years, and a failure rate which approximates 95 percent to develop a new drug, many companies have been forced to downsize their internal discovery operations, especially in risky areas such as CNS, and have moved toward an open innovation model with shared risk partnering. Partially in response to these challenges, the NIH has expanded its interest in translational research. The new external focus of industry, coupled with the enhanced support of translational activity at NIH, has resulted in a significant rise in the number and sophistication of academic drug discovery centers. These are early days and it remains to be seen whether this new model will be fruitful.