Better Biological Relevancy in Drug Discovery over the Next Five Years – Chapter 1

I am excited to write the inaugural blog posting for our new website. This is a four part series and a new installment will be posted every two weeks.

Please enjoy the updated content and functionality of our new website and regularly check out this blog for new industry information that we hope you will enjoy and find insightful.

The drug discovery industry has been through a tumultuous transformation over the last 10 years. The dust now appears to be settling and out of it, new business models, advances to existing methods, and key enabling technologies have emerged to set a new course for the industry. While the objectives of drug discovery haven’t changed, the way the industry achieves them has changed dramatically. The conventional silo-based business model has transitioned to a more open and collaborative model built around adaptability and innovation where companies, research organizations, and academic partners can all share in the development of a new drug. The traditional approach of identifying a single disease target and then developing a target-specific compound hasn’t filled the drug candidate pipeline with successful candidates as expected. We are now confronting more difficult and complex debilitating chronic diseases that require a different approach. It’s generally agreed that efficient drug discovery and development requires a deeper understanding of the biology of disease and applying technologies to get this information earlier in the process is expected to lower costs, reduce attrition rates, and ultimately result in better drugs. My predictions for the future of drug discovery in five years are from the perspective of a technology platform provider with products focused to facilitate the study of cells, and the components of cells, to help scientists gain a better understanding of normal and disease processes.

R. Terry Dunlay
President and CEO, IntelliCyt Corporation