Commercial Aspects of Drug Discovery

This course gives the student a general, illustrated overview of the different stages in drug discovery from the industrial perspective. A wide range of biotech and pharma business models will be presented and analysed including non-profit models for drug discovery through government agencies. The practicalities of starting up a new company in the biotech area will be explored and ideas and business plans for potential start up companies will be evaluated. The considerations and practicalities of selecting, initiating and running a drug discovery programme will be covered as well as the key topic of finding a lead compound that exhibits the desired biological activity with the highest possible benefits.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course a student should have:

• Knowledge of the cost structure of a traditional pharmaceutical corporation.
• An understanding of the development pipeline of a major pharmaceutical corporation.
• Knowledge of the regulatory hurdles that must be passed to bring a new compound to market and the costs associated with these hurdles.
• An ability to put together and evaluate a business plan for a start-up biotech company.