Drug discovery: a research sector stricken in France that can sometimes pay off

Jean-Louis Kraus (1)

1 IBDM - Institut de Biologie du Développement de Marseille

Drug discovery is a research sector stricken in France. Projects initiated by medicinal chemists from public sector could be a way to countervail this weakness.The present paper reports the case of a french drug design company, Trophos, founded by academic researchers, purchased by Roche Pharmaceuticals for 400 millionseuros in 2015. Following this success story,some Trophos founders have persevered in starting two new ‘’drug design companies’’.Since Trophos creation in year 2000, the costs to fulfill the preclinical phase have dramatically increased. It is why goverment research organizations should facilitate biotech creation by academic and public researchers, to make french drug discoverybusiness competitive again. Some ideas are suggested in this paper:a non-profit foundation which can de-risk investments and encourage innovation toward important unmet medical needs.

Mots clés: Drug Design Discovery; Start-ups; Funding; Biotech

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Jean-Louis Kraus. Drug discovery: a research sector stricken in France that can sometimes pay off. Drug Discovery Today Biosilico, 2019, 24 (6), pp.1229-1231. ⟨10.1016/j.drudis.2019.05.002⟩. ⟨hal-02440814⟩