Ten years of partnering with the pharmaceutical industry
The publication entitled 'Ten years of working with the pharmaceutical industry' describes our approach to collaborating with industry, including promoting data sharing and supporting open innovation.
Over the past ten years we have built strong links with more than 40 leading companies, working closely with pharmaceutical, biotechnology and contract research organisations, as well as regulatory agencies from the UK and around the world.
It details the success that we have had as an honest broker for cross-company data sharing in pre-competitive collaboration, with information on hundreds of compounds collated and analysed to find new opportunities for applying the 3Rs across the drug development pipeline. These collaborations have provided evidence-bases that could not be achieved by any one company alone, and have led to changes in company practice and in some cases international regulations.
Our innovative CRACK IT funding competition, designed to commercialise 3Rs technologies and specifically address industry challenges involving the use of animals, also features in the publication. CRACK IT links industry with the academic and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sectors through challenge-led 3Rs research on areas such as better drug development for Alzheimer's disease and improved toxicity studies.
Dr Vicky Robinson, Chief Executive of the NC3Rs, commented: "Collaboration is critical to advancing the 3Rs. Our partnership with the pharmaceutical industry is a great example of this. Together we have used the 3Rs as a framework for not only considering how animal use can be minimised but also to support improvements to the drug development process."
Louise Leong, Director of Research and Development, from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, which has provided funding to support the work of the NC3Rs, said: "The ABPI fully supports the excellent work of the NC3Rs to replace, refine and reduce the use of animals in research. The dynamic ABPI-NC3Rs collaboration is entering its tenth year and is being renewed for a further three years to sustain and further cultivate the innovative work and valuable outputs that have been produced so far. We are delighted to continue this partnership with the NC3Rs, to reduce the use of animals where possible while progressing R&D towards new medicines."
'Ten years of working with the pharmaceutical industry' was launched on Monday 30 June at a reception at the House of Lords hosted by Lord Turnberg of Cheadle, the first NC3Rs Board Chair. The publication is now available to download as a PDF or read as an e-book.
Read our blog: Ten years of collaboration