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BIO Keynoter Fox Advocates Innovation in Funding As Well As Drug Discovery and Development by George Miller May 7, 2007 Michael J. Fox today threw down a drug development gauntlet to the biotech industry: Innovate, and accelerate the translation of basic science into improved therapies for patients. "Who's funding innovation today?" asked the Parkinson's disease sufferer and former actor. "I've been reasonably well treated for 15 years using a drug that's been around for forty years." He observed that much industry effort is directed at finding new indications for existing drugs and platforms, rather than drug discovery. He expressed his gratitude to the biopharmaceutical industry and his observations of it with good humor during his keynote address at the 2007 BIO International Convention. From the podium, he said, "I can stand still up here and that's thanks to you." He described an unmet need for new drugs based on a statistic he attributed to financier Michael Milken: of 30,000 known human diseases, treatments exist for only 10,000. "That's a lot of opportunity," he said. Filling this unmet need is not about finding more money, he said. It's about spending money differently. "The tough truth is that [the drug development funding] system breaks down just where we need it the most, where risk is highest. How can we get this right?" To highlight the issue, he quipped about the recent development of an antidepressant drug for dogs much as his Family Ties television character Alex Keaton might have: "My symptoms may not be improving, but at least my dog feels better about it." As a patient advocate, he acknowledged measuring drug development success differently than do stockholders, investors and even company executives. "But it seems to me that we can all achieve success by redeploying [existing assets]," he said. "It's a question of finding common ground where stakeholders in the drug development process - including academic and industry researchers, government, and private research funders - can work together toward tangible results". Fox publicly disclosed in 2000 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He retired from television acting shortly thereafter and established The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. The foundation's ambitious mission is to find a cure for Parkinson's within this decade. Its strategy has been to fund preclinical and clinical research to advance the science, eliminating some degree of risk to entice the big-gun venture capitalists into funding later- stage research. The foundation is among the first to provide funding to both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. "We're well aware that our numbers are miniscule compared to the [costs involved in the drug development process]," Fox said. The goal is to attract follow-on investing for more expensive clinical trials down the road. The foundation has funded more than $90 million of research, either directly or through partnerships, supporting more than 300 Parkinson's research projects throughout the world. The foundation's portfolio of research investments reflects its focus on translational and clinical research, including major investments in the pursuit of a Parkinson's biomarker and clinical trials exploring neuroprotective and gene therapy techniques. Last month, the foundation launched Biomarkers 2007, a two-year, $2- million funding program for the discovery of an objective biomarker of Parkinson's disease. The program is in its third funding round targeted at biomarkers, which the Parkinson's field currently lacks. Earlier this year, the foundation announced $3 million in funding for its annual clinical discovery program, which has provided $7 million in funding for 12 projects since it began in 2004. The program seeks proposals for clinical research projects to improve treatment within five years and have an immediate impact on patients' lives http://bio2007.org/Attendees/Mon01.html Brief excerpts of the speech at: http://podcast.moreaboutthat.info:8088/biotech3.mp4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn