The proposal requests funding for the University of Delaware (UDEL) to join the Center for Pharmaceutical Development (CPD). Georgia Tech at CPD is the lead institution, while the University of Kentucky Is a 'Partner' site.
The proposed I/UCRC Site at the University of Delaware will bring world-class expertise to an existing Center for Pharmaceutical Development (CPD) in technical areas that are central to biopharmaceutical development innovation. These areas are currently absent or represent only a small portion of the expertise within the CPD, and will enable the CPD to build upon its strengths focused on development of small-molecule pharmaceuticals, industrial enzymes, and related biotechnology products; making the expanded CPD an even more robust and high-impact I/UCRC. The faculty in the proposed Site for the CPD are world-recognized leaders, and will provide new strengths to the current CPD that complements the existing expertise in solid-state pharmaceutical stability and delivery, and development of industrial enzymes and related biotechnology products.
The proposed, expanded CPD will be the most far-reaching industry-university consortium to date that is focused on pharmaceutical product development, rather than discovery research or clinical development. The project areas it will address have the potential to greatly improve the efficiency and economics of drug development research and engineering, as well as the fundamental understanding and education of engineers and scientists in the industry. This can benefit the U.S. broadly in terms of domestic job creation, as well as improved time to market, cost to patients, and reduced risk for investors for the development and testing of new therapeutic proteins (focus of UD Site) and innovator pharmaceuticals more generally (focus of CPD overall). The PIs will involve students from underrepresented groups in science and engineering, including through research internships that are funded internally or through complementary federal funding.
The main focus of this project was to assess the interest of industrial colleagues regarding an industry-university research consortium within the NSF IUCRC model, specifically focused on science and engineering to support biopharmaceutical product development, with an IUCRC site located at the University of Delaware. This is one of the fastest growing sectors of the pharmaceutical industry, and is a major employer of highly skilled workers in the United States. This is also a highly technical industry, that inherently encounters numerous scientific challenges that stimulate both fundamental and applied research. As such, it is a natural focus area for an IUCRC to address both technical/scientific knowledge/education, and supporting a vital industrial sector for the U.S. economy. A major goal of the project was to recruit companies to join the IUCRC through the University of Delaware, focused broadly as a Center for Pharmaceutical Development, with partners at the University of Kentucky and the Georgia Institute of Technology. This involved a large one-day symposium to present the plans for the center and address industrial questions and interests, as well as one-on-one follow-up visits and activities to assure the new center would provide useful research activities for the member companies. As a result, 1/3 of the companies who attended the meeting were able to commit to joining the center in 2015, provided that the NSF approves the center expanding to include the University of Delaware. Additional companies are also interested in joining but were not able to commit as of 3Q2014 because of a need to confirm budget commitments for 2015 that were not yet decided internally.
