The Key to Drug Discovery Success by Riccardo Isola, Chief Executive Officer, Accelera: a sponsor company attending the marcus evans Discovery Summit 2012, on adding value in drug discovery programmes.

1. The Key to
Drug Discovery Success
The best means of reducing overall drug different cancer indications. Interestingly,
development costs is to start off with this approach is also beginning to be
targets that are as fully validated as explored in other therapeutic areas,
possible from a preclinical point of view, including inflammation/arthritis.
and to envisage development in selected
patient subpopulations, if appropriate and Another therapeutic approach,
feasible. This subsequently facilitates the monoclonal antibody therapy, is still
design of early clinical trials that are able holding up to its promise, and in particular
to accurately predict drug activity, antibody-drug conjugates are currently of
minimising the possibility of failure due to much interest, with tens of molecules in
inadequate activity at later development clinical development.
stages. This is a major problem today,
especially in the cancer field. However, Relatively new areas that have yet to be
Interview with: Riccardo Isola,
this requires a willingness to kill fully exploited include gene silencing
Chief Executive Officer, Accelera
programmes that do not live up to technologies (e.g. siRNA, miRNA), which
expectations as early as possible. currently need to be optimised as
The combination of a highly innovative Therefore, intensive implementation of therapeutic agents but that could benefit
and well-validated target is the key to patient selection, pharmacodynamic and enormously from recent advances in drug
project success, says Riccardo Isola, Chief pharmacological biomarkers, and stringent delivery technologies.
Executive Officer, Accelera. From a clinical activity criteria are all important
sponsor company at the upcoming factors. What is your outlook for the future?
marcus evans Discovery Summit 2011,
Isola offers his insight into drug discovery, How could potential failures be identified Pharmacological therapy, especially for but
and how pharmaceutical and biotech sooner? not limited to the field of cancer, is
companies can add value, reduce costs increasingly likely to be based on Patient-
and innovate. The combination of a highly innovative Tailored Therapy approaches, i.e. choosing
and well-validated target is the key to or adjusting the most suitable course of
How can pharmaceutical companies add project success. Beyond this, the ability to therapy based on the molecular
value to their R&D programmes? select active compounds at early characteristics of the individual patient
development stages that are optimal in and of his or her disease. Therefore,
The key to value in a pipeline is that it be terms of potential ADMET liabilities is increasingly sophisticated yet generally
rich in high-quality, highly innovative what Accelera specialises in. available diagnostic approaches (such as
programmes. Unfortunately, in an ever high-coverage DNA sequencing, analysis
more competitive environment, this is no The best advice I can give is to be of circulating tumour cells, and so on) will
easy matter, especially for companies that stringent and not yield to the temptation continue to be developed and
do not have the resources to execute to carry forward sub-optimal compounds. implemented at an ever greater pace.
powerful in-licensing campaigns. For small Going back to the chemistry bench is
-medium companies that rely on in-house almost always the best, if not the easiest, Drug discovery scientists and organisations
products, it is of utmost importance to choice! need to keep fully abreast of technological
make firm and well-informed strategic advances in these fields, judiciously
decisions regarding innovative areas of What are some of the scientific areas or choosing the right implementation
research on which to focus, then to technologies worth following? policies, working closely with academia
develop highly competitive programmes in and regulatory authorities, to ensure that
those specific fields. In the drug discovery field, kinase the development of new therapies and the
inhibitors will remain an important avenue implementation of appropriate and
How can the overall cost of drug to further exploit in the next few years. effective diagnostic approaches can result
development be reduced? Four anticancer therapies that are kinase in maximum patient benefit, as well as
inhibitors were approved in 2011, for optimise development costs.

2. About the Discovery Summit 2012
The Phar ma Network -
marcus evans Summits group Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or trade show, this exclusive
meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to
delivers peer-to-peer information on
a highly focused and interactive networking event. The Summit includes presentations
strategic matters, professional trends on ensuring successful drug discovery, stimulating innovation and creating partnerships.
and breakthrough innovations.
www.discovery-summit.com
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About Accelera
Accelera is a non-clinical CRO that operates as a drug development partner with biotech and pharmaceutical companies worldwide. We
know by experience that the success of drug discovery is measured by the quality of the product candidates that are generated. Accelera’s
integrated services include Attrition Reducing Technologies (ART) and Toxicology Screening for the selection of high-quality drug
candidates.
For more information, please visit: www.accelera.info
About marcus evans Summits
marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and
solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their
schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-to-one business meetings.
For more information, please visit: www.marcusevans.com
Upcoming Events
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Evolution Asia Summit 2012 (Asia Pacific) - www.evolutionasia-summit.com
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To view the web version of this interview please click here: www.discovery-summit.com/RiccardoIsola