Gertsch, Jürg; Chicca, Andrea (2024). CNS Drug Discovery in Academia: Where Basic Research Meets Innovation. ChemBioChem, 25(19), e202400397. Wiley 10.1002/cbic.202400397
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ChemBioChem_-_2024_-_Gertsch_-_CNS_Drug_Discovery_in_Academia__Where_Basic_Research_Meets_Innovation.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial (CC-BY-NC). Download (1MB) | Preview |
The involvement of academic research in drug discovery is consistently growing. However, academic projects seldom advance to clinical trials. Here, we assess the landscape of drug discovery within the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) TransCure launched by the Swiss National Science Foundation to foster basic research and early-stage drug discovery on membrane transporters. This included transporters in central nervous system (CNS) disorders, which represent a huge unmet medical need. While idea championship, sustainable funding, collaborations between disciplines at the interface of academia and industry are important for translational research, Popperian falsifiability, strong intellectual property and a motivated startup team are key elements for innovation. This is exemplified by the NCCR TransCure spin-off company Synendos Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotech company developing the first selective endocannabinoid reuptake inhibitors (SERIs) as novel treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders. We provide a perspective on the challenges related to entering an uncharted druggable space and bridging the often mentioned "valley of death". The high attrition rate of drug discovery projects in the CNS field within academia is often due to the lack of meaningful animal models that can provide pharmacological proof-of-concept for potentially disruptive technologies at the earliest stages, and the absence of solid intellectual property.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Review Article) |
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Division/Institute: |
04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine |
UniBE Contributor: |
Gertsch, Jürg |
Subjects: |
500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology 600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health |
ISSN: |
1439-7633 |
Publisher: |
Wiley |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Pubmed Import |
Date Deposited: |
04 Jul 2024 10:18 |
Last Modified: |
03 Oct 2024 00:13 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1002/cbic.202400397 |
PubMed ID: |
38958639 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: |
drug discovery endocannabinoid reuptake inhibitor endocannabinoid system innovation knowledge and technology transfer startup companies translational research |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/198486 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/198486 |
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