Drug development takes place at universities and startups, not big pharma companies
Vedantam ’22 – (Keerthi, reporter at Crunchbase News covering venture investment in the life sciences, previously covered biotech and health at dot.LA and enterprise technology at Business Insider, 10/18/2022, Startup Insider: How A Molecule Becomes A Drug, Crunchbase News, https://news.crunchbase.com/health-wellness-biotech/how-a-molecule-becomes-a-drug/ accessed 7/29/2024// EL)
The drug discovery process often begins in a university lab, where scientists are nose-deep in petri dishes looking for new strategies to get a drug into the body and test some of the infinite molecular compounds to see which ones could create a breakthrough drug.
Most of this research is powered via the National Institute of Health, a taxpayer-funded organization that contributes to almost every single drug that comes to market.
After a discovery, the university may choose to spin out a startup helmed by the leading researchers who are thrust, often for the first time, into the world of private enterprise where they look to raise their first round of funding.
Interest in drug discovery has increased since 2017, according to Crunchbase data. Around $1.6 billion has poured into the startup space so far this year, especially as the pharmaceutical industry tries to look for new targets—new parts of the cell for drugs to stick to.