Advancing research insights into drug candidates
Germany ’s academic biomedical research is approved to be world-class, but there remains room for improvement in transforming the important basic findings into commercially viable pharmaceutical products.
The innovation gap between science and industry
Many decades of experience in technology transfer have shown that the biggest obstacle looms in the early stage of research projects. Even if the projects are promising, investors or industry partners are unlikely to sign up without first seeing some proof-of-concept. Major reasons for this are that typical investment cycles are comparatively short, while biopharmaceutical projects take a long time to develop. Moreover, standard tools for the evaluation of risks and returns are inapplicable to early-stage research. In consequence, big pharma tends to exit early stages of drug discovery based on market and cost considerations. Despite the steadily growing need for innovative drug discovery projects and novel modes of action for new therapies, the gap between basic research and industrial drug development is still growing.
Bridging the gap
With an innovative financing concept and integrated drug discovery know-how, the LDC is there to bridge this gap. Independent from the standard investment rules of capital markets, the team will select the best projects from academia, including the Max Planck Society and public organizations, or industry. These projects will be transformed into professional biopharmaceutical development projects that meet the state-of-the-art standards for innovative pharmaceutical leads.
New hope for patients
In this way, the LDC will be instrumental in paving the way for novel medicines and innovative therapeutic approaches to improving the treatment of debilitating or life-threatening conditions with high unmet medical need, such as cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative or cardiovascular diseases. Although these indications are considered to be attractive, the LDC will not limit itself to classical big-pharma markets, but will also investigate niche indications where there is a high need for new treatment options.
