Myelin Repair Foundation Launches First-Of-A-Kind Drug Discovery Advisory Group

[Guest guest]

Myelin Repair Foundation Launches First-Of-A-Kind Drug Discovery

Advisory Group

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/96588.php

The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF), a U.S.-based not-for profit

medical research foundation focused on accelerating the rate of

target identification and validation to speed drug discovery and

development, has launched a first-of-a-kind Drug Discovery Advisory

Group (DDAG). MRF's DDAG is tasked with assessing and prioritizing

the organization's myelin repair therapeutic targets and advising the

MRF scientific team on the development of industry-competitive data

packages.

DDAG members include Freedman, Ph.D., Mike Gresser, Ph.D.,

Lipinski, Ph.D., Bruce McCarthy, M.D., M.B.A., A.

Pleiss, Ph.D. and Mark Scheideler Ph.D. DDAG members met with MRF's

Principal Investigators for the first time at a MRF research planning

meeting in California in mid-January.

" The interaction between our scientific team and the DDAG members was

extraordinary. It clearly demonstrated that bringing pharma expertise

together with our target discovery labs will be critical in order to

continue our rapid progress toward licensing a first myelin repair

drug target by 2009, " said MRF president . " Most

foundation research programs like MRF have Scientific Advisory Boards

to provide guidance for the development and execution of scientific

experiments, " continued . " We are not aware of other not-for-

profit organizations who are utilizing the expertise of pharma

executives to speed the translation of academic discoveries into

commercial drug development and clinical trials. "

Said DDAG member and former VP of research from Amgen Mike

Gresser, " The traditional gap between university-based science and

commercial drug development has often meant that too much good

science has not advanced toward potential patient treatments. To my

knowledge, for a non-profit organization to make this connection

between academic scientists and pharma executives at this early stage

of drug development is exceptional. This kind of cooperative science

could mean more high-quality drug targets will enter the pharma drug

pipeline. "

Founded in 2002, the Myelin Repair Foundation was created to

facilitate the rapid rate of drug discovery and its translation into

patient treatments. MRF's Accelerated Research Collaboration™ (ARC™)

model has already delivered unprecedented results in just three-and-a-

half years, including

- The identification of 18 novel drug targets for myelin repair

- The identification of two dozen new research tools that may have

applications for all neurological disease research

- The filing of nine patents on those discoveries

MRF's initial goal was to license, by mid 2009, the first of many

myelin repair drug targets that would lead to treatments for multiple

sclerosis. The organization began funding science in 2004. Many

believe that MRF's innovative ARC model could change the way all

medical research is conducted.