Daria Mochly-Rosen – Accelerating Child and Maternal Health Innovation: Stanford Childx Conference

TL;DR

Stanford's SPARK program aims to bridge the gap between academia and the pharmaceutical industry by de-risking early discoveries and providing proof of concepts for drug development.

Transcript

The panelists today include luminaries in the field of accelerating innovation. That range from accelerating the pace of innovation and discovery for drug development, represented by Daria Mochly-Rosen and Dr. Craig Garner. And also the way we accelerate the pace of innovation comes from the ability to take existing constructs, such as imaging devi... Read More

Key Insights

• 👶 The SPARK program at Stanford University aims to accelerate innovation in drug development in child and maternal health.
• 🎓 By de-risking early discoveries, providing funding, education, and access to facilities, and offering mentorship from industry experts, the program increases the success rate of translating academic discoveries into drugs.
• ☠️ SPARK has a 57% success rate and has made significant contributions to child and maternal health, with many projects in clinical trials or licensed for development.
• 💖 The program has sparked similar initiatives at other institutions and aims to make translational research more effective and cost-efficient for the benefit of patients.
• 👶 Projects supported by SPARK include biologicals, new chemical entities, and repurposed drugs, targeting various diseases and conditions in child and maternal health.
• ❓ The program relies heavily on volunteer industry mentors who provide invaluable expertise and guidance.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the main objective of the SPARK program at Stanford?

The main objective of the SPARK program is to de-risk early discoveries from academia and show their value to the pharmaceutical industry, ultimately leading to the development of new drugs for unmet clinical needs.

Q: How does the SPARK program support drug development projects?

The program provides funding, education on drug discovery and development processes, access to specialized facilities for translational research, and most importantly, mentorship from industry experts who offer guidance and advice based on their experience.

Q: What is the success rate of the SPARK program?

The SPARK program has an impressive 57% success rate, which includes projects that have been moved to companies for further development, projects in clinical trials, and repurposed drugs for new indications. Only 10% of the projects have been classified as failures.

Q: What are some examples of projects supported by the SPARK program?

Examples include a project targeting neonatal jaundice by inhibiting heme oxygenase, a project using N-acetylcysteine to reduce inflammation in the lungs of children with cystic fibrosis, and a project developing a new compound to prevent deafness caused by aminoglycoside antibiotics.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The SPARK program at Stanford University focuses on accelerating innovation in drug development, particularly in child and maternal health.

• The program aims to bridge the gap between academia and the pharmaceutical industry by providing proof of concepts for early discoveries.

• SPARK utilizes a combination of funding, education, access to facilities, and mentorship from industry experts to increase the success rate of translating academic discoveries into drugs that benefit patients.