John Higgins
Merck Research Labs, USA
Title: Drug delivery and solid state chemistry at the drug discovery-development
Biography
Biography: John Higgins
Abstract
ver the past decade, scientific and business needs have pushed Pharma to more closely align drug discovery and drug development efforts in order to bring optimal preclinical drug candidates (PCCs) forward. Towards this end, Pharma development chemists at Merck now routinely provide innovative rationally designed drug formulations ranging from nanoparticles to amorphous dispersions for key preclinical animal studies. They also work closely with medicinal chemists to optimize PCCs’ physicochemical properties and identify a crystalline phase that has appropriate characteristics that will allow for good performance in pre-clinical safety studies and clinical formulations. In all cases, miniaturization and state-of-the art characterization methods are essential. Early investment in these areas can significantly shorten the time to the clinic and help avoid ugly surprises related to API phase and exposure. One of the most exciting aspects of working in this space is the many opportunities for innovative collaboration between biologists, chemists, pharmacologists, etc., investigating new drug delivery modalities and administration routes in a wide range of preclinical species. This presentation describes the unique tools a Merck uses in discovery space and shows some examples where partner groups from Discovery and Development worked together to increase the speed of drug lead identification, biopharmaceutical optimization and the PCC clinical approval process.