Drug Discovery Technology - Where Science meets Business, April 2001 This congress is now the premier focus in Europe for scientists and managers interested in all aspects of drug discovery. Participants span the range from fledgling biotechs to major pharma, and our blend of formal and informal sessions is intended to stimulate synergistic interactions throughout the conference. Please find an Executive Summary of Drug Discovery Technology. Drug Discovery Technology 2001 For further information and details of the comprehensive documentation available from this event, please visit: www.drugdisc.com/stuttgart For details of Drug Discovery Technology, please visit: www.drugdisc.com/stuttgart 1. Drug Discovery Technology 2001 [top] Authors: Julia Lloyd Parks and Graham Hughes, Technomark Consulting Services, London, UK The conference brought together many of the elements of the drug discovery process. There have been many advances in this area of research, and this was reflected by the diversity of companies attending this conference, both as delegates and exhibitors and by the international nature of all attending the conference. On the first day there was a whole day course entitled 'Introduction to the Pharmaceutical Industry' presented by Julia Lloyd Parks (Technomark Consulting Services). The objective of this was to provide an overview to those new to the industry, and to draw attention to the key drivers and challenges in the industry. The course was very well received by the attendees and looks like becoming a permanent feature of the drug discovery conference. Also on Day One there was a session that focussed on the linking of new technologies with traditional biology, followed by drug discovery and development case histories. The main conference proceedings started on Day Two with a plenary session entitled "Strategic Management of Drug Discovery". The two keynote speakers in this session were Dr. Peter Ringrose, President of Bristol Myers Squibb and Dr, Tom Wilkie, Advisor in Bio-ethics for The Wellcome Trust. Peter Ringrose presented a view of how pharmaceutical companies will need to respond to the new technologies. The message is that drug development time is not yet decreasing, and that the new technologies may actually increase the cost of developing a drug in the short term - the "Billion Dollar Molecule" is predicted, with development costs rising to $1.6 billion to develop a molecule by 2005. However, it is predicted that after that the effect of using new technologies will be realised, and development costs should drop. Key factors in the future will be the need to decrease the attrition rate of compounds in the post discovery/pre-clinical phase, and attention to the process, where the people are going to be key. Dr. Ian Smith (Managing Director, Lehman brothers) concurred with the view the effect of new technologies will not be immediate - "enabling technologies will produce more targets, but not yet". He suggested that no one company is big enough to take full advantage of the new technologies. Being large may not offer the best opportunities to respond in the changing world, and being more flexible, with smaller units may allow advantages. This may have been one of the considerations that led to the 'Swedish Spinout' by Pharmacia Corporation. This was described by Associate Professor Johan Kördel, who is vice President of Pharmaceutical R&D for this group - soon to be known as Biovitrum. This group will concentrate on metabolic diseases, which is not a portfolio associated with Pharmacia. This aspect meant that a market value was not known for the group, and so a spin out was more acceptable than a merger with another company. A key objective of the meeting was to provide an opportunity for companies to identify and contact potential business partners. A number of companies were given the opportunity to "show-case" their companies at the end of proceedings on Day Two and at the start of Day Three. Among the sessions focusing on the methodology and technologies, there were two that discussed the business aspects of partnering and licensing. On Day Two Graham Hughes chaired the session about partnering. During this session we heard about how NASDAQ-Europe will operate, from its Director, Robert Atwater. Crispin Kirkwood (Chief Executive, BIA) discussed the State of Biotechnology in Europe. Graham Hughes (Technomark Medical Ventures) then described the process of obtaining funding for a biotechnology company. The session was finished with a presentation about funding from the European Union by Dr. Alfredo Aguilar-Romanillos, from the Research Directorate of the European Commission. Day Three also featured three parallel tracks on Lead Generation and Optimisation; Genomics and Proteomics Technologies and Licensing and Patents. Hopping from one session to the other proved difficult, as speakers were not assiduous at sticking to their schedules. Some presentations although purportedly overviews of a specific area were overtly advertising slots for their presenters' companies. This aside the day was interesting and useful and with some presentations - notably the lecture on in silico screening - intellectually challenging or deeply mysterious (depending on your background!) In the session entitled "Licensing, Patent Application and Product Placement on International Markets: Chances for European Biotech-Companies" there was a fascinating view from "Big Pharma" when Dr. Jürg Meier of the Novartis Venture Fund spoke about deals between Biotech Companies and "Big Pharma". Through a Corporate Venture Fund Big Pharma can invest in a multitude of interesting companies, with a goal of maintaining a wide view of innovative technologies. The scale of the investments does not allow control, but develops a network of contacts for future potential co-operation. The small company can benefit from the prestige of having a corporate investor. At the post-conference cocktails Sir Chris Bonnington drew parallels between scaling Everest and scaling the heights of drug discovery in a presentation that was well received by the rapt delegates. The final day of a large conference - particularly after an excellent conference "gala" dinner - often tends to be an anti-climax with many delegates having wended their way home. Day Four dawned bright and clear and was something of an exception to this general rule. The parallel tracks dealt with ADME/Tox studies, validating target discovery and partnering in drug discovery. All three sessions were well attended and provided in the first two interesting and useful technical presentations on the state of the art in these two vital areas. The importance of early ADME/Tox studies, particularly those carried out in vitro, is often underestimated. These sessions showed how well conducted studies can both save time and increase quality in the candidate selection process. Validated targets seem to be valued at $1.0 million or more each to a big pharma company licensing in these from a biotech partner. The papers presented in the target validating session highlighted the wide diversity of approaches that the biotech companies are adopting. No company, however large, can hope to have all the skills and technologies in house that are currently being utilised for drug discovery and development. Thus partnership is becoming ever more essential. Discovery and target validation are areas where true strategic partnerships are beginning to take shape - in various forms as discussed eloquently by Jim Featherstone (Wood McKenzie) But as Graham Hughes pointed out strategic relationships especially in development are the exception rather than the rule. The exhibition provided an excellent opportunity for delegates to meet with representatives of the companies that are mushrooming to serve the discovery area. Quite exceptionally the exhibition stayed open until the end of the conference. Even lunch was provided at this time and again afforded an excellent opportunity for networking, an aspect of the conference much praised by the delegates. The conference included a venture capital clinic for those looking for advice on whether and how to raise capital as well as a job fair for those looking for new employment in the industry. In spite of some organisational difficulties we would rate the conference a great success. One can only sympathise with the organisers (IBC/Informa) when speakers drop out at the very last moment. This reprehensible trend seems to be increasing of late. Next year's conference promises to be bigger and even better. While DDT is a natural meeting place for those involved in drug discovery, scientists involved in the development area could benefit greatly by attending such conferences and learn what is happening on "the other side of the fence" and perhaps make the whole process of discovery to market a little more seamless.