How you see the future of Drug Discovery Industry 2018:
The 2017 saw huge MnA activity crossing US$ 200 B, with J&J@ 30 B, Gilead @ 12 B leading the pack.
2018, has been predicted to unlock excess of 160 billion & still counting! Sanofi buying Bioverative @ US$ 11.5B, Celgene buying Juno @ US$ 9B, Roche picking up Ignyta have already set the ball rolling for this year. The US$ 69 B merger of CVS & Aetena is being projected as a prospect.
On CRO front, several large CROs have been on big acquisition spree during 2017…we need to wait and watch the results of consolidation, whether it casts good spell on the prospective sponsors or scares them away.
How you see the future of Drug Discovery Industry 2018:
The advances in diverse field of science are converging upon newer screening tools, which provide better predictions of molecular, cellular, organoids, tissues and organisms. The focus on integration of the hitherto published & contributed data have led to generation of a comprehensive database with the NIH driven Tox 21 program and their global collaborators. The researchers approach the new molecular entities with far more predicted outcome than ever before. The stress is moving from conventional in vitro ADMEs to safety pharmacology driven discovery battery. The discussion is focused more and more on influence on performance of cardiomyocytes and neuronal tissues.
Role of JRF Global in the field of Drug Discovery :
JRF has been at the forefront of establishing processes for tracking the advancements and understanding the direction of winds. While we offer the generic battery of screening tools like PAMPA, CaCo2, in vitro ADME, we have invested a lot in establishing hERG, rodent respiratory, our unique Canine respiratory+CVS+TK combo, which not only saves time and the top dollars but also provide a definitive info on the go-no-go decisions. We have and continue to invest in development of predictive toxicology as well as efficacy models using 3D tissues/sphaeroids and organoids with some of the top research institutes in India, with western veterans & experts contributing to these developments.
How did your journey start with JRF and how has it been so far?
I was a biotechnologist in pharma industry for several years before I joined JRF. Transformation of a scientist developing a product to a scientist looking at a product from a regulatory perspective was very enlightening. The fundamental understanding of the property of molecules being evaluated, coupled with massive amounts of published data as well as scientific databases like SciFinder, enable our teams to proactively work on developing specific protocols which could address all the potential queries of a regulator to our sponsors. The most important lesson which I learnt was sensiticvity to customers expectations, demands and challenges and ensureing their comfort with regular scientific and program management communications have made us one of the most professional CROs in the eastern part of the Globa. The journey has been to put it simply “wonderful”. Learning and building went hand in hand. Understanding the winds of changes in the regulatory environs and building up capabilities state of the art infrastructure has been an ever-evolving process.
What is your vision for JRF in the next five years?
We wish to emerge as an end-to-end CRO offering synthesis, lead identification & Optimization tools, chemical characterization, regulatory toxicology and ERA services for our sponsors. Our team is committed to our collective vision to emerge as a CRO of choice from Discovery to Development services under one roof! Our popular and highly specialised services are inhalation toxicology, reproductive toxicology, dermal penetration & the package of canine respiratory-CVS & TK package saving cash and time for our sponsors. Our decades of existence, deep expertise and strong historical control data in toxicology & very capable bioanalytical specialists who are every ready to undertake challenging assignements not only for TK but also discriminate the metabolites. We offer services in hit-to-lead, Lead Optimization, IND package, new formulations (505 2B) with our unique services in Dermal Absorption, Inhalation, RepTox, Carci and Dog studies.
We, at JRF Global look forward to our active participation in your exciting journey of drug discovery and development"