Sir,
Have your colleagues discussed the best way to nominate specific programs to moonshot, without running through a political gauntlet or vetting by Big Pharma?
“Have your colleagues discussed the best way to nominate specific programs to moonshot, without running through a political gauntlet or vetting by Big Pharma?”
Great question. I’m not sure I can answer that but I’ll try. Having worked in academia and big pharma I know that each has their own agenda and I recognize the importance of both. Big pharma needs to develop products that can be produced on a large scale that will be profitable for the company. Those in academics are interested in breakthroughs for the sake of furthering our scientific knowledge of the disease states and how we might go about finding a cure, without regards to cost. I think a panel comprised of representatives from both would be useful in allocating resources based on progress presented at a central meeting. Actually there is an institution in place that invites those from the entire scientific community to meet for a week, present progress and chat informally. These conferences are know as the Gordan Research Conferences. There is a third organization know as the World Health Organization (WHO) which uses resources taken form both academia and pharma to further the treatment of diseases worldwide. They should also be included in these discussions. In short, we need everyone to come together, recognizing the importance of everyone involved to find effective treatments that would be available to everyone who needs them.