Italy’s new R&D centre launched by Burns
pharmafile | April 9, 2010 | News story | Research and Development | Italy
The recently retired head of Roche’s pharma division has called for more public-private partnerships in the pharma industry.
William Burns addressed the PharmaFuture 2010 summit in Genoa to mark the opening of a new institute to promote pharmaceutical research in Italy.
The Drug Discovery and Development Unit (D3) will employ over 70 scientists and technical staff by December 2010.
Funded by the Italian Institute of Technology, the centre will be dedicated to the discovery of new medicines. It will focus its research efforts on drug discovery in three key therapeutic areas – pain, inflammation and dementia.
Burns told 100 industry leaders at the site: “The key way to move forward in drug discovery and development is to have good interconnectivity”.
He continued: “No single institution is doing all of the right things, so partnerships are crucial to the development of innovative new medicines. The industry needs to harness science from hybrid groups like the D3, who are working in an inspired way to advance the discovery of new drugs in important therapeutic areas.”
The launch event is the first of a series of meetings highlighting promising partnerships in drug discovery.
Drug discovery in Italy
Also speaking at the event, Sergio Dompe, president of Italy’s pharma industry association, encouraged local industry leaders to form collaborations to further drug discovery.
He told delegates: “Here in Italy we have extremely skilled scientists who have great ideas, but we face a challenge in getting new R&D projects off the ground.”
“Collaborations between industry and academia, such as the model employed here at D3, are crucial to the success of the Italian pharmaceutical industry.”
Dr Daniele Piomelli, scientific director of D3 said: “We very much appreciate the interest of potential partners in our efforts to build a new model that bridges the best of academia and industry.”
Piomelli added: “The call for more collaborations in the industry speaks to the D3 business model, which focuses on uniting the creativity and innovation of academia with the focused and results-oriented culture of the pharmaceutical industry.”
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