The SULSA Assay Development Fund: accelerating translation of new biology from academia to pharma

• Published in: Drug discovery today Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 199 - 203
• Main Authors: McElroy, Stuart P., Jones, Philip S., Barrault, Denise V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-02-2017
• Subjects: Drug Discovery; Drug Industry; Financial Management; High-Throughput Screening Assays; Humans; Students; Translational Medical Research; Universities
• ISSN: 1359-6446; 1878-5832
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2016.09.028

•Translating academic science with drug discovery requires high quality assays.•We established a fund and utilised existing infrastructure to address this need.•Engagement with academic networks provided a diverse target portfolio.•The scheme provided an excellent training platform for early career researchers.•Successful outputs from the fund leveraged significant follow-on funding.
With industry increasingly sourcing preclinical drug discovery projects from academia it is important that new academic discoveries are enabled through translation with HTS-ready assays. However, many scientifically interesting, novel molecular targets lack associated high-quality, robust assays suitable for hit finding and development. To bridge this gap, the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA) established a fund to develop assays to meet quality criteria such as those of the European Lead Factory. A diverse project portfolio was quickly assembled, and a review of the learnings and successful outcomes showed this fund as a new highly cost-effective model for leveraging significant follow-on resources, training early-career scientists and establishing a culture of translational drug discovery in the academic community.