Drug discovery: a research sector stricken in France that can sometimes pay off

Drug discovery is a research sector stricken in France. Projects initiated by medicinal chemists from public sector could be a way to countervail this weakness.The present paper reports the case of a french drug design company, Trophos, founded by academic researchers, purchased by Roche Pharmaceuti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDrug discovery today Vol. 24; no. 6; pp. 1229 - 1231
Main Author Kraus, Jean-Louis
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2019
Elsevier
Subjects
Drug Discovery - methods
France
Humans
Life Sciences
Pharmaceutical Preparations - chemistry
France
Start-ups
Biotech
Funding
Drug Design Discovery
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Summary:Drug discovery is a research sector stricken in France. Projects initiated by medicinal chemists from public sector could be a way to countervail this weakness.The present paper reports the case of a french drug design company, Trophos, founded by academic researchers, purchased by Roche Pharmaceuticals for 400 millionseuros in 2015. Following this success story,some Trophos founders have persevered in starting two new ‘’drug design companies’’.Since Trophos creation in year 2000, the costs to fulfill the preclinical phase have dramatically increased. It is why goverment research organizations should facilitate biotech creation by academic and public researchers, to make french drug discoverybusiness competitive again. Some ideas are suggested in this paper:a non-profit foundation which can de-risk investments and encourage innovation toward important unmet medical needs.
Bibliography:SourceType-Other Sources-1
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ISSN:1359-6446
1741-8364
1878-5832
DOI:10.1016/j.drudis.2019.05.002