Key Points - Biopharmaceutical Industry Roadmap

The proposals are aimed at strengthening early-stage companies so that they can advance further along the development chain: from proof-of-principle to Phase I, II and III clinical trials and finally to full regulatory approval of their therapies.

Cancer, the second leading cause of death exceeded only by heart disease, is poorly served by traditional chemotherapies and a major opportunity area for drug development.

Research to find connections between diseases, molecular targets such as an enzyme or receptor protein implicated in the disease process (biology phase), and drug molecules (chemistry phase) capable of modulating the biological activity of the target.

Drug discovery is often perceived as a process that proceeds linearly from gene discovery to gene function (target identification) followed by target validation, combinatorial chemistry, high-through-put screening, hit selection, and lead optimization.