Expert opinion on drug discovery
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Expert Opin Drug Discov · Jun 2012
EditorialProductive university, industry, and government relationships in preclinical drug discovery and development: considerations toward a synergistic lingua franca.
Efficiency and productivity shortfalls conspire with subpar economic return to stigmatize the pharmaceutical industry and jeopardize its viability. This complex and costly innovation-to-commercialization failure, the formidable associated costs, and the relevance of various core competencies endemic to universities, the pharmaceutical industry, and government have been major drivers for establishing preclinical drug-discovery alliances involving these constituencies. ⋯ Based on decades of research and development (R&D) and business experience spanning international big-pharma, biotechnology, and academic spheres, the author opines that a synergistic lingua franca is required among involved constituencies in order for such cross-sector discovery alliances to emerge as robust drug-discovery engines fueled by joint intellectual effort. Technology-transfer professionals, postdoctoral trainees, and consultants are discussed as resources for helping establish the university-industry-government triumvirate as a normative innovation network for preclinical drug discovery and development in the 21st century.