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The Role of Modern Biology and Medicine in Drug Development in Academia and Industry
Sponsored by the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

Drug development is a complex process that routinely involves effective collaborations between academic and physician scientists and industry.  This symposium addresses careers in the drug development industry, the performance of translational research in academia and industry, and a multitude of factors involved in collaborations essential to the drug discovery and development process.  First, Ted Love will discuss competing occupational advantages affecting recruitment of scientists and physicians needed in drug development programs in industry; ideal backgrounds for successful applicants for positions in industry in drug development; ethical and regulatory considerations affecting the performance of scientists and physicians in drug development programs in industry and in other organizations such as the National Institutes of Health and universities; and the nature of gratifications available to scientists in industry working on drug development.  Timothy Clackson will focus on similarities and differences entailed in the performance of translational research in academia and in industry.  Logistic, operational, and scientific oversights are complex, especially because they often involve relationships with clinical enterprises outside of the corporate structure itself and the use of laboratory animals.  The nature of effective relationships in multiple settings will be addressed with examples of development of specific types of therapeutic agents.  Scott Kennedy will then describe the long road from formulation of a good discovery idea to acceptance of a new drug in the marketplace.  He will focus on the importance of collaborations and partnerships in this process.  These partnerships help increase confidence and improve decision making on issues of safety and efficacy pre-clinically, that can reduce attrition and expedite providing new quality drugs to patients faster and at lower costs.  Collaborations involve addressing multiple issues that include infrastructure, safety, regulatory matters, intellectual property, technical and personnel considerations, source document capture and data analysis issues, and legal and strategic alliances.  This symposium will be of special interest to scientists and physicians in all fields who have interest in working for or collaborating with the pharmaceutical drug industry.