Ferrins Lori, Pollastri Michael P
Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology , Northeastern University , Hurtig 102, 360 Huntington Avenue , Boston , Massachusetts 02115 , United States.
ACS Infect Dis. 2018 Apr 13;4(4):445-448. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.7b00208. Epub 2017 Nov 14.
Collaborations between academic, industrial, and nonprofit companies can provide sufficient impetus to propel projects that have little economic return; such projects are prevalent in tropical disease drug discovery. In these collaborations, each partner contributes a unique set of skills and technical expertise which is advantageous to the project as a whole. Highly product-focused processes and specialized expertise sets dominate industry groups. When coupled with the strategic guidance from public-private partnerships and the academic tendency to work on high-risk projects with low financial rewards, a powerful combination results. There are numerous examples throughout the literature about these collaborative efforts to combat a variety of tropical diseases (including leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, African sleeping sickness, and malaria), from all stages of the drug discovery process to the advancement of new drugs into the clinic. However, there is still uncertainty from many academic institutions as to how to establish and engage in these research consortiums. This Viewpoint highlights opportunities, benefits, and suggestions for productive collaborations in this disease space.
学术机构、产业界和非营利组织之间的合作能够提供足够的动力来推动那些经济回报微薄的项目；此类项目在热带病药物研发中很常见。在这些合作中，每个合作伙伴都贡献了一套独特的技能和专业技术知识，这对整个项目是有利的。高度以产品为导向的流程和专业技能组合在产业集团中占主导地位。当与公私合作伙伴关系的战略指导以及学术机构致力于开展低经济回报的高风险项目的倾向相结合时，就会形成一种强大的组合。从药物研发过程的各个阶段到新药进入临床，文献中有大量关于这些抗击各种热带病（包括利什曼病、恰加斯病、非洲昏睡病和疟疾）的合作努力的例子。然而，许多学术机构对于如何建立并参与这些研究联盟仍存在不确定性。本观点强调了在这个疾病领域进行富有成效的合作的机会、益处和建议。
