By Max Klietmann, VP of Research, LSN
Innovative collaborative models are a defining part of the life science industry. We’re all familiar with alliances between big pharma and venture capital, the academic/commercial collaborations of the tech transfer space, and most recently, the development of early stage technologies by research hospitals. Currently, another emerging trend is poised to make a significant impact on the industry on a global scale: Global collaboration between research centers, incubators, and bioclusters in the form of organized therapy development alliances.
So what does it look like? The model, which has already been adopted by a group of six research institutions in the US and Europe, aims to integrate the entire value chain of the drug development pipeline – from discovery through distribution – by having all of the relevant stakeholders involved. Essentially, it is a collaborative strategy that puts research groups, universities, tech transfer offices, CROs, industry organizations, service providers, investors, and big pharma under a project umbrella that allows compounds to be quickly vetted, shepherded through the development and trial processes, and brought to market.
But what does this mean? Since these alliances are formalized groups aimed at advancing drug discovery and development on a global basis, it increases the chances of getting all the pieces in place to bring a drug to market several fold. It creates communication, standardized processes, and facilitates the sharing of best practices and resources. All of this is being made possible by enhanced information sharing and physical logistics, as well as data management capabilities. It translates to a new model for translational science commercialization, and could be a key answer to bridging the valley of death by bringing capital, service providers, and big pharma capabilities to emerging assets globally. This trend is likely to accelerate in the remainder of this year and into 2014, so prepare for a paradigm shift.
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