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Every drug has a unique story on its journey from an idea
to the marketplace. What is almost always the case though
is that each drug has a champion, to help guide the concept
and the drug compound through sometimes difficult waters.
A company will often be completely reorganized, change management
or be acquired by a competitor several times during the period
when a promising compound is in late stage discovery or development.
There are a number of marketed drugs, including Buspirone,
Prozac, Acyclovir, Viagara or Paracetamol that may not have
been come to light in modern laboratories.
These drugs were invented by scientists relying often on
instinctive invention and observation, who sometimes fought
shy of formal systems. Many drugs are the product of serendipity,
or "lucky" observations, but in fact the scientists
involved often "made their own luck", by acting
on seemingly disparate data to hunt for a new disease treatment.
The session will focus on some headline blockbuster drugs,
some with well-defined and innovative mechanisms of action
as well as some earlier stage compounds with a fascinating
rationale and origin. During the talks it will be illustrated
how every drug is unique; but scientists need to have time
and space as well as the motivation to observe and discover,
by sound observation. The invention and development of a new
drug rarely follows a prescribed pattern. The discipline of
Drug-hunting requires determination, openness to new thinking,
teamwork and the ability to link apparently disparate observations
into a novel rationale.
The impact of outstanding project leadership on the process
of Drug Discovery and Development will be illustrated as an
important part of this session.
Lars Knutsen
Discovery Pharma LLC
PA, USA
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| | Lars
Knutsen is the founder and President of Discovery Pharma LLC,
based in West Chester PA. He began his Pharma Research career
at Glaxo in Ware, Herts., UK after gaining M.A. in Chemistry
at Christ Church, Oxford. While at Glaxo, he completed his
Ph.D. in the Medicinal Chemistry of C-Nucleoside in and worked
on a range of nucleoside targets before joining Novo Nordisk
in Denmark in 1986.
While in the Novo CNS Group he led the project that identified
Tiagabine (Gabitril™), a marketed anticonvulsant acting
by blocking GABA uptake, and also worked on drug candidates
for Stroke. In 1997, he joined Vernalis (Cerebrus) in the
UK as Associate Director of Chemistry, initiating projects
such as the adenosine A2A antagonist program that led to V2006/BIIB014,
which has recently shown proof of concept in Phase IIb Parkinson’s
disease clinical trials with Biogen-IDEC. He joined Ionix
Pharmaceuticals Ltd., an ion channel and pain focused Biotech
in Cambridge UK, in 2001 as the Director of Chemistry.
Dr. Knutsen moved to the Cephalon CNS Medicinal Chemistry
group as the company’s first Distinguished Scientist
in 2005, where he identified H3 antagonist CEP-26401, the
5th clinical candidate of his career. He is currently
the President of a new venture, Discovery Pharma LLC, his
4th start-up company. Lars has published 43 peer-reviewed
publications and 25 PCT Patent applications, resulting in
18 issued US patents. He has recently been appointed an Adjunct
Professor at the Drexel University School of Medicine, is
a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and a regular
Chairman and Speaker at International Scientific Conferences.
He sits on the Editorial boards of various journals and is
a regular reviewer for J. Med. Chem., Bioorg.
Med. Chem. Lett. and Bioorg. Med. Chem.
He describes himself as genetically Norwegian but culturally
British, despite being a resident in the USA.
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