New initiative boosts obesity, MRSA and cancer drug research

15 January 2007

Obesity, cancer and the hospital 'superbug' MRSA are the targets for novel drugs being developed under a new scheme funded by the Wellcome Trust. The Seeding Drug Discovery initiative aims to bridge the funding gap in early-stage drug discovery, assisting researchers to take forward projects in small molecule therapeutics that will be the springboard for further research and development by the biotech and pharmaceutical industry.

Researchers at universities and small biotech firms may have innovative and alternative approaches to drug research, but attracting funding from venture capital companies can be challenging at the initial stage of development. Through the Seeding Drug Discovery initiative, Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust has launched a £91-million scheme to progress the most promising projects in small molecule therapeutics in areas of unmet medical need.

The first three recipients of awards under the scheme are:

• Professor Steve Bloom, Imperial College London, to develop a treatment for obesity
• Prolysis Ltd, to develop a drug to treat life-threatening, drug-resistant, staphylococcal infections
• Professor Jeremy Tavaré, University of Bristol, to develop a drug-like compound to tackle cancer.

"Even though obesity, cancer and MRSA are three of the most urgent challenges faced by our society today, there are many more innovative approaches to how they might be tackled than there are drugs being progressed in clinical development," says Dr Ted Bianco, Director of Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust.

"The researchers that have received our first awards have already made exciting discoveries at the basic research level, which we hope can be translated into tangible health benefits. Our funding is designed to take the research forward to a point that makes these projects more attractive to venture capital firms, industry and public-private partnerships."

It has become increasingly difficult for research groups outside industry to secure funding for translational research in small molecule therapeutics. Whereas the commercial sector has a keen interest in promising new technologies, a high level of evidence is required that one can translate a novel discovery into a real opportunity for drug development because the path to market is fraught with difficulties.

With these considerations in mind, the Wellcome Trust established its new funding initiative to facilitate interdisciplinary research groups to engage in early drug discovery projects building on novel perspectives from the study of disease mechanisms or the activity of compounds.

"We hope these projects will encourage closer collaboration between academic researchers, the biotech sector and its investors, and the pharmaceutical industry," says Dr Bianco. "The ultimate aim is to spawn the future development of new medicines in areas of unmet medical need. We are seeking to catalyse an opening up of early drug discovery to a wider cast of players than has been hitherto possible and through this to realise the enormous potential of the revolutionary developments in biomedicine."

The second round of funding applications will be considered in May 2007.

Contact

Craig Brierley
Media Officer
Wellcome Trust
T +44 (0)20 7611 7329
E c.brierley@wellcome.ac.uk

Notes for editors

1. The Wellcome Trust is the largest independent charity in the UK and the second largest medical research charity in the world. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending around £500 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.