Conference: Accelerating Drug Product Development and Approval: A Critical Need in Response to National Emergencies

药物的发现、开发和监管评估过程，从一个分子被确定为潜在的治疗药物，到被批准作为药物产品商业化，可能需要长达15年的时间。这一漫长的过程涉及许多阶段，包括确定疗效、安全性、毒性和治疗方案，确定目标人群、副作用和相互作用，选择可行的合成途径，以及开发产品配方和可靠的制造工艺。这一漫长的时间框架使得难以应对需要新疗法的紧急情况，使患者无法更快地获得挽救生命的药物，缩短了制药公司的盈利期，并导致新药成本高昂。此外，COVID-19大流行明确了加快药物开发和监管评估过程的必要性。为了解决这些问题，建议举办一个研讨会，汇集来自学术界、工业界和监管机构的思想领袖，根据医学、生物学、材料科学、生物统计学和先进制造技术的最新科学和技术进展，讨论加速药物发现、开发和监管评估所需的关键因素。加速机制将从多个角度进行审查，包括基础科学的强度、技术可行性和监管可接受性。在相关学科专家的参与下，系统的头脑风暴和分析将取得重大成果，包括制定一项战略计划来实施讲习班的成果。项目领导团队建议组织并举办一个结构化的研讨会，汇集来自学术界、工业界和监管机构的思想领袖，讨论加速药物发现、开发和监管评估所需的关键因素，这些因素基于医学、生物学、材料科学、生物统计学和先进制造技术的最新科学和技术进展。这些讨论将由预先选定的在各自领域具有既定记录的小组成员主持。加速机制将从多个角度进行审查，包括基础科学的强度、技术可行性和监管可接受性。在相关学科专家的参与下，系统的头脑风暴和分析将产生重要的成果，这在任何现有的科学传播论坛或会议上都无法实现。将选出被认为可能有效的加速机制，由讲习班参与者组成的重点多学科小组进行进一步分析，该小组的任务是将这些机制纳入战略计划和执行途径。这些文件将是讲习班的主要成果，将作为联邦政府、工业界和学术界指导这一领域工作的蓝图。研讨会将于2023年1月24日至26日在华盛顿特区举行，届时将有来自行业、学术界和政府组织（如NSF、NIH、NIST和FDA）的领导人参加。该研讨会将实现两个目标：1)确定能够显著缩短药物发现、开发和商业化时间框架的科学、技术和监管机制，提高效率并降低患者风险；2)将这些机制整合成连贯的战略和综合实施计划。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The drug discovery, development, and regulatory evaluation process, from the point where a molecule is identified as a potential therapeutic agent to when it is approved for commercialization as a drug product, can take up to 15 years. This lengthy process involves many stages, including the determination of efficacy, safety, toxicity, and therapeutic regime, identification of target populations, side effects, and interactions, selection of a feasible synthetic pathway, and development of a product formulation and a reliable manufacturing process. This lengthy time frame makes it hard to respond to emergencies requiring new therapies, deprives patients of faster access to life-saving medicines, decreases the profitability period of pharmaceutical companies, and contributes to the high cost of new medicines. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the need for faster drug development and regulatory evaluation process. To address these issues, a workshop is proposed to bring together a focused group of thought leaders from academia, industry, and regulatory agencies to discuss the critical elements needed to accelerate drug discovery, development, and regulatory evaluation based on recent scientific and technical advances in medicine, biology, materials science, biostatistics, and advanced manufacturing technologies. Acceleration mechanisms will be examined from multiple perspectives, including the strength of the underlying science, technical feasibility, and regulatory acceptability. The systemic brainstorming and analysis with the participation of experts across the relevant disciplines will enable significant outcomes, including the production of a strategic plan to implement the workshop findings.The project leadership team propose to organize and conduct a structured workshop that will bring together a focused group of thought leaders from academia, industry, and regulatory agencies, to discuss the critical elements needed to accelerate drug discovery, development, and regulatory evaluation based on recent scientific and technical advances in medicine, biology, materials science, biostatistics, and advanced manufacturing technologies. These discussions will be led by pre-selected panelists with established track records in their respective fields. Acceleration mechanisms will be examined from multiple perspectives, including the strength of the underlying science, technical feasibility, and regulatory acceptability. The systemic brainstorming and analysis with the participation of experts across the relevant disciplines will generate significant outcomes, which would not be achieved in any existing scientific communication forum or conferences. Acceleration mechanisms deemed to be potentially effective will be selected for further analysis by a focused multidisciplinary team of workshop participants, which will be tasked to integrate these mechanisms into a strategic plan and an implementation pathway. These documents, which will be the main output of the workshop, will serve as a blueprint for the Federal Government, industry, and academia to direct efforts in this field. The workshop will be held in the Washington, DC area 24-26 January 2023 and will be attended by leaders from industry, academia, and government organizations such as NSF, NIH, NIST, and FDA. The proposed workshop will achieve two goals, to: 1) identify Scientific, Technological, and Regulatory mechanisms capable of significantly reducing the drug discovery, development, and commercializing time frame with improved efficiency and reduced risks to patients; and 2) integrate these mechanisms into a coherent strategy and integrated implementation plan.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.