Interaction between Industry and Academia

Abstract

Drug research has evolved from a chemistry-dominated approach in the 1950s to a highly complex system involving genomics, combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening. This leaves industry with an almost infinite number of potential targets for new chemical entities and new technical approaches for the characterization of potential drug substances and targets. Such a complex and fast-changing structure necessitates close cooperation with research groups at universities and basic research institutes as well as with other companies. Current know-how has to be transferred into the research organization of the company and cannot be generated on a stand-alone basis. The transformation of Schering AG from a research and development orientation to a research, search and development orientation is described and the experiences of working in several networks and other models of cooperation with academia are outlined.