Drug Discovery Technology 2001: An Increasingly Important Venue.

Drug discovery is a long, multi-step and extremely complex process. Technological advances have made drug discovery both faster and smarter, and new technologies are posed to continue to advance all stages of the drug discovery process. As the technologies for drug discovery continue to appear

and evolve, the issues surrounding drug discovery also continue to multiply. At IBC's Sixth Annual World Congress Drug Discovery Technology 2001 (DDT 2001), held August 12-17 in Boston, Massachusetts, pharmaceutical and biotech researchers, investors and suppliers from around the world gathered to discuss the present and future of drug discovery.

Genomics, proteomics, combinatorial chemistry and evolving technologies have fundamentally changed drug discovery over the last 20 years. The number, speed and nature of these changes have created new expectations, complications and paradigms. How pharmaceutical and biotech industries as well as instrument and aftermarket vendors respond to these changes will impact all stages of R&D, from target identification to clinical testing. The conference was an opportunity to examine these changes and responses and address the current debates in the field. It was also an opportunity to survey the current state of drug discovery technology and its future

Despite a faltering economy, the drug discovery field remains a growing, and in some sectors flourishing, business. Attendance at DDT 2001 topped 4,000, with over 300 exhibitors. The exhibition floor was crowded and the rooms were at capacity for many of the sessions. In particular, the pre-conference summit, "Creative Partnering and Deal-Making in Drug Discovery" proved very popular reflecting the ongoing investments and collaborations surrounding drug discovery. Indeed, many of the pre-conference summits were among the most interesting symposia with topics such as new technologies, informatics and mass spectrometry. Main conference sessions ranged from established topics, such as screening and assay development and lead optimization, to topics that have become more of a focus lately, such as early ADME and toxicology, chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, and infrastructure for the drug discovery factory.

Setting the stage for the conference was the keynote address by Mark Levin, chairman and CEO of Millennium Pharmaceuticals. His talk focused on the optimization of costs throughout the drug discovery process and on the future of drug development. The Boston Consulting Group's recent report "The Revolution in R&D-The Impact of Genomics" estimates current development cost for a new drug at $880 million, but that genomic technologies, properly utilized, can save up to $300 million in costs and shave two years off the development process. According to the report, drug discovery failures account for approximately 75% of total development costs, and the reduction of one in ten drug targets from discovery research can reduce new drug costs by $200 million on average.