Memories: Ditching De Novo Discovery
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Drug development start-ups like Sention and David Pharmaceuticals are hoping to eliminate or reduce the safety risk inherent in drug development by identifying compounds Big Pharma has shelved or incorporated into marketed drugs and which are thought to be safe in humans. Instead of starting from scratch with de novo discovery of new molecules, they are focusing on in-licensing either promising compounds or marketed products that could benefit from incremental improvements.