Study the drug discovery and development (DDD) process from target identification to the Investigational New Drug (IND) application phase. Explore a number of drug targets from five different therapeutic areas, including inflammation, oncology, cardiovascular, neuroscience, and diabetes. Learn about several current therapeutics utilized in these disease areas and investigate why a number of drug targets in these areas have been unsuccessful in delivering a preclinical drug candidate. In teams, evaluate a potential drug target and consider challenges that research project teams encounter in advancing a drug to preclinical development.
- Understand the requirements and challenges in advancing a compound from drug discovery through preclinical development
- Understand the different stages of research and development and what studies/information are needed to advance compounds to the next stage of R&D
- Understand the pharmacology of therapeutics for a number of therapeutic areas
- Gain an appreciation for drug targets where compounds have reached or failed to reach the market for several different therapeutic areas
- Understand the R&D process and the types of challenges encountered for biological drugs
- Gain experience in presenting, and reviewing, potential novel drug targets and addressing challenges encountered by project teams
Testimonials
"This course provided a tremendous amount of material, so much so that I wish I would have been able to spread it out over a longer timeframe and delve even deeper. Of course, in the context of academia we often do not have that luxury." (May 2019)
"For me, one of the more meaningful learning experiences was in Drug Discovery and Development Through Preclinical course, where we worked our way through the development of a potential drug candidate as a team, simulating the data, steps, and challenges that you would expect to encounter in industry. For me this really helped in understanding how to apply what we learned in class to an actual set of data and translating "textbook" concepts to real world scenarios. Courses with these sort of exercises really helped to reinforce the material that was covered in class particularly for myself who prefers, and learns best with, hands on experiences." (Jan 2019)