Pharmaceutical leaders call for more industry/academia partnerships at launch of D3 in Italy

The newly retired chief executive of Roche Pharmaceuticals, Bill Burns, last Friday led calls for more public-private partnerships in the pharmaceutical industry at the launch of the Italian Institute of Technology's Drug Discovery and Development Unit (D3).

'The key way to move forward in drug discovery and development is to have good interconnectivity,' he told more than 100 industry leaders gathered in Genoa for the launch. 'No single institution is doing all of the right things, so partnerships are crucial to the development of innovative new medicines. The industry needs to harness science from hybrid groups like the D3, who are working in an inspired way to advance the discovery of new drugs in important therapeutic areas,' he added.

D3 brings together scientists with experience in industry and academia to discover new drugs in pain, inflammation and dementia. It recently received funding of 12 million euros ($16.2 million) from the Italian government to cover 70 staff for the next five years and is looking to partner with external collaborators to advance key projects.