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Garth Powis, D.Phil.,
Director, Center for Targeted Therapy, Professor and Chair, Department of Experimental Therapeutics |
Better. Faster. Cheaper. These three words best describe why the discovery and development of drugs in academic research settings just makes good sense.
Drug development is a multi-billion-dollar industry in the United States and around the world, yet an average of only four new cancer drugs are developed per year by big pharmaceutical companies—each costing approximately $800 million and taking anywhere from 8 to 14 years of work. And this is only for cancers with large patient populations. Orphan cancers are typically overlooked in drug development efforts because the market is deemed too small to be profitable. But this is where we, in academia, can step up to the plate and use our knowledge, resources, and expertise.
Our estimates indicate that we can develop drugs at a small portion of the cost and time it takes for pharmaceutical companies to do so. As an academic institution, we can lead the effort to discover and develop novel drugs and to pursue innovative clinical trials for cancers with fewer patients. We are better equipped to develop agents faster, cheaper, and more innovatively because we don’t face the same obstacles as big pharmaceutical companies—namely, to meet requirements of profitability and market share. We can take the initiative and pursue new ideas, whereas industry may close down a drug program not because it isn’t viable but because it isn’t profitable.
In the last 5 years, M. D. Anderson has brought a remarkable 13 drugs to clinical trial, and another six are slated for clinical trials in the coming year. Another 12 agents are in the developmental pipeline. Through M. D. Anderson’s Pharmaceutical Development Center, we are able to carry out nearly every aspect of pre-clinical cancer drug development—from antitumor testing and pharmacokinetic studies to state-of-the-art assay development and toxicology studies, FDA meetings, and Investigational New Drug preparation and filing. Ultimately, it is our patients—and all cancer patients—who benefit from these new drugs and treatments.
Our goal is not to become a drug company, but to enable and encourage our investigators to rapidly bring innovative findings to the point where they can be tested clinically. This approach provides patients with access to therapeutic options that otherwise do not exist and allows investigators to develop agents that will be tested in our own phase I and II clinical trials—enabling us to more quickly bring cancer drugs to patients.For more information on this topic or for questions about M. D. Anderson’s treatments, programs, or services, call askMDAnderson at (877) MDA-6789.
Other articles in OncoLog, November 2007 issue:
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Advancing Drug Design in Academia 
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