The current status of non-biopharma discovery
John C.W. Comley · 2014
Screening centres in academic institutions and non-profit organisations have, over the past decade, become an established mechanism to exploit novel targets and neglected diseases and to identify chemical probes. Where centres have a disease focus, their main expertise resides in cancer and phenotypic screens, with screening experience greatest for kinases, phenotypic approaches and protein-protein interactions. Many are also centres of excellence for cell- based screens, particularly those utilising high-content cell imaging. With success increasingly judged not only on the number of publications accepted in peer-reviewed journals, but also on projects that lead to additional third party funding, the main obstacle facing most centres is underscored, ie how to maintain sustainability of operations. The pursuit of biopharma-academic partnerships could point the way forward, fill the funding hole and enable centres to carve out a niche in conjunction with biopharma.