In Conversation With Ian and James: Making Medicines Means Millions

What would you do with $1 billion?  How many of the world’s problems could you solve?  Would you bring world peace, or wipe out illness?

If you said you’d cure all diseases, you may be in for a shock.  $1 billion is the average cost to get just one medicine from idea to market.  Only about 1 in every 100 drug development projects make it to clinical development.  With high attrition rates, vast expenditure, and the need for expensive resources, new medicine development is a huge challenge.  This is true even in high-income countries where there is access to funding, equipment, knowledge and infrastructure.  But what happens if you don’t have all of these?  Is it still possible?

Meet Ian Gilbert and James Duffy.  Ian is a professor of chemistry at the Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research (WCAIR) and James is the director of drug discovery at Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV).  Both have considerable expertise working in drug discovery in industrial and academic settings.  They also spend time supporting scientists working in institutes that are not as well-resourced in their quest to make new medicines.

Join us as these experts discuss the challenges and opportunities for drug discovery in settings where resource is scarce.