Abstract

Drug discovery and development across the pharmaceutical industry has historically been challenging, with overall success rates from preclinical to launch of ~5% during the first half of this decade across all therapy areas. Recent efforts to improve this have been very successful, with latest data showing an approximate four fold improvement in our organisation. Nonetheless, neuroscience continues to be perceived as high risk and high cost, although the potential rewards may offset overall risk. Using the same framework for improved success, case studies to illustrate improvements in choosing the right target, review of the predictability of animal models, understanding of selectivity and target engagement, and illustration of strategies to generate clinical evidence of efficacy quickly will be presented, focussing primarily on the pain and neurodegeneration areas. Recent progress in advancing a novel bispecific NGF-TNF construct for pain will be used to illustrate some of these strategies, where a novel observation of synergy between these two soluble mediators has led to rapid discovery and development of a potential analgesic medicine