A harmonious symbiosis between Big Pharma and academia will hopefully lead to the speedier development of better medications for the treatment of a spectrum of psychiatric disorders. Nine pharmaceutical companies have teamed up with a group of academic institutions to create a large database that will share results from previous clinical trials on drugs that have already gained market approval.
The aim, according to project leader Shitij Kapur of the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, is to “help reverse the drought of new medications in psychiatry.”
This is a good thing for the most part, says ACSH’s Dr. Josh Bloom. “It’s an important trend to see that drug companies are cooperating with universities now more than ever. In fact, Pfizer has just announced a number of collaborations with universities that may play a part in this new cooperative atmosphere.”
“Certainly this is not a breakthrough, but it’s a first step toward greater cooperation and an exchange of information between these two scientific entities, which will hopefully increase the likelihood that new drugs will be discovered,” adds ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross.
