New Web Resource Launched to Boost Development of Alzheimer Drugs

10 May 2005. There was a time when university professors and small companies could leave the complex challenges of drug discovery entirely up to the pharmaceutical industry. But no longer. In the wake of the revolutions in molecular biology, genetic engineering and other fields related to biomedicine, academe is becoming the crucible for discovering novel disease mechanisms and treatments. But most professors are not trained in the complex process of drug development, and companies cannot afford to explore but a handful of the thousands of ideas pouring out of university labs.

What to do? One answer is to help academics learn about drug development and connect them to a burgeoning drug discovery service industry that can test mechanisms, provide compound libraries, screen drugs and carry out many of the critical early steps towards developing a drug. To this end, the Institute for the Study of Aging and the Alzheimer Research Forum (Alzforum) have joined forces to create a web-based Drug Development Tutorial and Database.

The new resource is aimed at researchers working on Alzheimer disease, but could also be useful to investigators working on other diseases. As Baby Boomers know all too well, Alzheimer disease is devastating not only to those who have it but to their family caregivers. This degenerative brain disease currently afflicts some 4 million Americans and the numbers could burgeon to 10 million by the middle of this century. Drugs to treat, slow down or prevent AD are urgently needed to avert this impending health crisis. Speeding the translation of academic science to the clinic is crucial.

"This Drug Development Tutorial and Database has two goals," explains June Kinoshita, the executive editor of the Alzheimer Research Forum. "The first is to educate AD research scientists about the process of drug discovery, and the second is to provide a web-based resource to accelerate drug discovery research for AD by providing information on companies in the drug discovery services industry that can assist scientists in their efforts."

The Tutorial takes readers step-by-step through the drug development pipeline, and includes a glossary of technical terms. The Database enables users to search for a wide variety of resources, such as laboratories offering high throughput screening robotics and screening assays, chemical libraries that can be purchased in the open market, drug discovery services companies that can provide medical chemistry services and consulting, and preclinical contract research organizations that provide services to advance preclinical development including animal model testing, toxicology and pharmacology.

"ISOA is very proud to partner with the Alzforum in creating and delivering to the Alzheimer disease community a comprehensive resource to accelerate drug discovery for Alzheimer's disease," said Howard Fillit, MD and executive director of ISOA. "We intend to evolve this internet based learning and networking resource, so that we can more effectively meet the needs of the Alzheimer disease drug discovery community well into the future."

The Institute for the Study of Aging (ISOA), founded in 1998 by the Lauder Family, is a biomedical venture philanthropy whose mission is to catalyze and fund the discovery and development of new therapies to prevent and treat cognitive aging, Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. Since 1998, ISOA has committed more than $23 million in support of 132 research projects and conferences at leading academic institutions and biotechnology companies in nine countries. For more information about ISOA visit www.aging-institute.org or contact Howard Fillit, MD, Executive Director at 212-901-8002 or hfillit@aging-institute.org.