Revolution in drug discovery
There has been a revolution in drug discovery. No longer are the forces of medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, toxicology and formulation in the hands of a few powerful mega cap pharma companies and concentrated in enclaves of Europe and the USA. The touch-paper lit over a decade ago by the success of small biotech, adopting mega cap know-how to originate NCEs, has exploded by the restructuring of mega cap and the pouring out of its R&D talent, know-how and resources into the creation of new CRO service providers. These providers have evolved into an entrepreneurial network across the globe - connecting nodes such as Cambridge in the UK with Cambridge Mass, Lille, Hyderabad, Basle, Singapore, Vancouver, Shanghai, Dundee and La Jolla etc. This network can be accessed on a semi-virtual or wholly virtual basis by a fresh breed of drug discoverer for whom discovery was previously denied and only for the resource rich.
The revolution allows the new breed who have a deep insight into a novel disease causing biology to become drug discovery “avatars” and on a virtual basis to enter parts of the global provider network to convert their biology into a real disease impacting chemical asset.
For the new breed to be successful as ”avatars” they have to pick up and learn new know-how and tricks, surround themselves not only with project managers to regulate interaction with their provider network but also seasoned (even pre-revolutionary) experts that can advise, challenge, guide, set deliverables for the SAR, ADMET, SBDD, CMC etc. work of the providers.
If you feel like you are one of the new breed and has what it takes to be an “avatar” then the Wellcome Trust’s Seeding Drug Discovery could be for you.
If successful you will be joining a new dispersed Seeding Drug Discovery enclave whose projects span the world’s time zones from Queensland to Bangalore, Leuven to Manchester, Edinburgh to San Fransisco. Importantly, partnerable NCEs have emerged from the existing semi-virtual projects in disease areas such as allergy and asthma, atrial fibrillation and memory loss which means the revolution continues!
Seeding Drug Discovery is just one of many funding initiatives from the Wellcome Trust. We are a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in health by supporting the brightest minds. Our vision.
Richard Seabrook
Head of Business Development
Technology Transfer, Wellcome Trust
For more information about Seeding Drug Discovery, email us at techtransfer@wellcome.ac.uk, call +44 (0)20 7611 8202 or visit www.wellcome.ac.uk/sdd.
