Press Release.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mike Duff
(703) 647-6214
mduff@alssa.org

 

Dennis Schmatz Briefs ALSSA Members on The Changing Face of Pharmaceutical Research

Alexandria, VA (March 28, 2011) — Dr. Dennis Schmatz, a former Merck R&D executive who currently serves as President of Medicines for Malaria Venture, a non-profit organization focused on the discovery and development of drugs for the treatment and prevention of malaria infections, was the featured speaker at a March 28 breakfast hosted by ALSSA for ALSSA member company executives attending the SBS Show in Orlando. Dr. Schmatz shared his views on “The Changing Face of Pharmaceutical Research” and made the following points in his presentation:

  • Prompted by the rising cost of drug development and commercialization and investors, both big pharma and many smaller pharmas and biotech companies are focusing on the near term. This near term focus has led to an innovation gap between the early discovery or academic phase and the commercialization stage.
  • Only one of 10 clinical entries gets approved and the failure rate is greater than 75 percent in Phase ll and lll. New approaches are needed to validate drug targets and to measure target engagement at an earlier stage. The goal is to push back the failure point to an earlier stage in the discovery/development cycle.
  • A small and focused clinical study for proof of concept can reduce costs and increase Phase ll proof of success, however this will require new tools. Biomarkers may fill this role. Although used in diabetes and atherosclerosis, biomarker/target engagement tools are needed for other areas including cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s, oncology, metabolic disorders, etc.
  • The Biomarker Challenge – although the right research tools for measuring target engagement, efficacy and disease progression can dramatically change the success rate of drug discovery efforts, validation of biomarkers as an acceptable surrogate marker of disease and disease progression will be a significant challenge.
  • The future paradigm in pharmaceutical research will be to harness the data and make the link between disease, molecules and genes. Genetics will plan a role and genetically validate targets will increase the probability of success, reduce preclinical and clinical failures and streamline clinical programs where responders can be identified.

 

For more information regarding ALSSA’s Board of Directors contact Mike Duff, President of ALSSA, at 703-647-6214. More information regarding ALSSA can be found at www.alssa.org.

ALSSA is the primary trade association for companies that develop and market technologies and solutions that enable scientific discoveries worldwide and applications which benefit society and lead to advances in healthcare, industrial innovation, and a safe and clean environment.

ALSSA members provide the “tools” and “solutions” essential to conduct research, testing, discovery and product development in a wide range of industries and applications including:


  • Pharmaceuticals and Drug Discovery
  • University and Scientific Research
  • Biotechnology
  • Forensics
  • Chemicals and Chemical Processing
  • Molecular Diagnostics Testing
  • Food Safety
  • Environmental Testing
  • Medical and Life Science Research

 

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