Myelin Repair Foundation Launches First-Of-A-Kind Drug Discovery Advisory Group

Saratoga, CA - The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF), a U.S.-based not-for profit medical research foundation focused on accelerating the rate of target identification and validation to speed drug discovery and development, has launched a first-of-a-kind Drug Discovery Advisory Group (DDAG). MRF's DDAG is tasked with assessing and prioritizing the organization's myelin repair therapeutic targets and advising the MRF scientific team on the development of industry-competitive data packages. DDAG members include Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., Mike Gresser, Ph.D., Christopher Lipinski, Ph.D., Bruce McCarthy, M.D., M.B.A., Michael A. Pleiss, Ph.D. and Mark Scheideler Ph.D. DDAG members met with MRF's Principal Investigators for the first time at a MRF research planning meeting in California in mid-January.

"The interaction between our scientific team and the DDAG members was extraordinary. It clearly demonstrated that bringing pharma expertise together with our target discovery labs will be critical in order to continue our rapid progress toward licensing a first myelin repair drug target by 2009," said MRF president Scott Johnson. "Most foundation research programs like MRF have Scientific Advisory Boards to provide guidance for the development and execution of scientific experiments," continued Johnson. "We are not aware of other not-for-profit organizations who are utilizing the expertise of pharma executives to speed the translation of academic discoveries into commercial drug development and clinical trials."

Said DDAG member and former VP of research from Amgen Mike Gresser, "The traditional gap between university-based science and commercial drug development has often meant that too much good science has not advanced toward potential patient treatments. To my knowledge, for a non-profit organization to make this connection between academic scientists and pharma executives at this early stage of drug development is exceptional. This kind of cooperative science could mean more high-quality drug targets will enter the pharma drug pipeline."

MRF's initial goal was to license, by mid 2009, the first of many myelin repair drug targets that would lead to treatments for multiple sclerosis. The organization began funding science in 2004. Many believe that MRF's innovative ARC model could change the way all medical research is conducted.

SOURE: the Myelin Repair Foundation