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Microglial Biology in Neuroinflammatory Disease: Pharmaco-industrial Approach to Target Validation

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Pathological Potential of Neuroglia

Abstract

Profound changes continue shaping scientific and business strategies in the pharmaceutical industry. Up until very recently, academic centers and corporations worked somewhat in isolation. However, over the last few years, two specific changes started to change this situation. On one hand, academic organizations became more engaged in operations previously conducted mainly in the industry, such as actual drug design and high-throughput drug screening. Capabilities were enhanced, both human and technical, and consolidation of available “know-how” led to the establishment of several academic centers capable of influencing and making key contributions to early drug discovery research. Simultaneously, the pharmaceutical industry recognized the need to enhance their sources of innovation and engage in hitherto mainly unexplored areas of research, such as neuroinflammation. In the process, previously insular organizations became more open to collaborating, exchanging information and building knowledge with external partners. Challenges remain to maximize the productivity of these interactions, and to benefit the collaborating partners, and ultimately society, by boosting the success of drug discovery. Developing a common language to communicate respective views is a key step towards enabling the partners to learn from each other and work together. In recent years our company has established a variety of successful collaborations with external partners. This chapter summarizes at a high level some of our current research processes, the learnings from our interactions with academic partners and our assessment of how to build strong academic-industry research partnerships.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to sincerely thank Vlad and Alex to have given us the opportunity to write this chapter. We are grateful to all our colleagues in the Neuroinflammation Disease Biology Unit of Lundbeck Research USA for the enthusiasm with which they take every step in the exciting journey of uncovering the secrets of the intriguing and complex science required to improve our understanding of Neuroinflammation, and hopefully deliver new and effective treatments for underserved patients. In particular, we recognize Drs. Robb Brodbeck, Bob Nelson and Gamini Chandrasena for their encouragement. We acknowledge Drs. Stevin H. Zorn and Klaus Bæk Simonsen for their support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroinflammation Disease Biology Unit, Lundbeck Research USA, 215 College Road, 07652, Paramus, NJ, USA

    Thomas Möller & Paul Dylan Wes

  2. Discovery Chemistry & DMPK, Lundbeck Research USA, 215 College Road, 07652, Paramus, NJ, USA

    Dario Doller

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  1. Thomas Möller
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  2. Paul Dylan Wes
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  3. Dario Doller
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Möller .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA

    Vladimir Parpura

  2. Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Alexei Verkhratsky

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Möller, T., Wes, P.D., Doller, D. (2014). Microglial Biology in Neuroinflammatory Disease: Pharmaco-industrial Approach to Target Validation. In: Parpura, V., Verkhratsky, A. (eds) Pathological Potential of Neuroglia. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0974-2_9

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