Lessons from Operation Warp Speed could benefit future drug discovery


July 22, 2022 -- The drug discovery process is expensive, time-consuming, and often inconclusive. But what if the biotech industry adopted the lessons learned from Operation Warp Speed, the public-private partnership that accelerated COVID-19 vaccine development, and applied them to this vexing challenge?

While the failure of preclinical drug candidates is a well-known and expensive problem, there is much to be learned from the success of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout that can be leveraged in the drug discovery process going forward, according to Debrah Thompson, PhD, vice president of scientific innovation at life sciences company HTG Molecular Diagnostics.

Thompson contends that during Operation Warp Speed data was used in a more intelligent and effective manner that helped to expedite the drug discovery process, a data-driven approach that can be applied to find the path of least resistance for other drugs, vaccines, and lifesaving treatments.

"The more that we can figure out how to use the data that we have -- not storing it, not putting it in the database, but actually saying 'what does this mean?' -- I think the better off we're going to be and there are so many opportunities. There's never been a better time," Thompson told ScienceBoard.net.

Thompson said that Operation Warp Speed proved that despite the inherent risks "you can move very swiftly without compromising quality."

Watch the video below to learn more.


COVID-19 mRNA-based vaccines benefit from decades of research
25 years ago Dr. Drew Weissman, PhD, an infectious disease expert at Penn Medicine, and RNA biologist Kati Kariko, PhD, began their collaboration in...
Top Operation Warp Speed official shares lessons learned from COVID-19
The global COVID-19 pandemic has placed an urgent burden on governments to serve society, and with the help of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries,...
COVID-19 to have long-lasting effect on biotech industry
The COVID-19 pandemic will have a widespread and long-lasting effect on the biotechnology industry, according to speakers at a January 5 presentation...

Copyright © 2022 scienceboard.net


Conferences
Connect
Science Advisory Board on LinkedIn
Science Advisory Board on Facebook
Science Advisory Board on Twitter