The Road Toward Effective Translational Research

By Asif Anwar

By Carmen Perrone, VP Scientific Affairs, Databean, LLC

Drug development is an expensive, high risk process that takes 10-15 years.[1]  In most cases, one in a thousand synthetized compounds progress to the clinic. Before reaching the clinic, new compounds must undergo a rigorous process involving in vitro and in vivo testing to establish their pharmacology and biochemistry.  Failure of a new drug to reach the market can be very costly; however, the effective application of translational research measures to a development program in Phases I and II could lead to the identification of efficacies that can result in a potentially quicker route of drug approval.¹ Although translational research is expected to facilitate the development of safe and efficacious therapies, the results have been mixed.[2]   This has been attributed to flaws in the process to translate basic research findings to clinical research.  This white paper presents the areas in translational research that have contributed to the failure of moving therapies to the clinic and the actions taken by experts to correct such deficiencies.