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LIFESCIENCELEADER.COM JUNE 2014 47 Harlan Contract Research Services (CRS) is a leading provider of preclinical and nonclinical contract research services for pharma, biotech and medical device development organizations worldwide. The complexity of your research doesn't have to define how difcult it is. When you've got hard work to do, make it efortless with Harlan CRS. • Full-Service Preclinical and Nonclinical Research and Testing Solutions • Wide Range of Demonstrated Therapeutic Experience • Direct Access to the Scientific Team Working on Your Behalf Make it Effortless with Harlan CRS +41 (0)61 975 11 11 • A Harlan Laboratories, Inc. Company MakeBiopharmaEfor tless .com C H E M I C A L • A G R O C H E M I C A L • H U M A N H E A L T H • A N I M A L H E A L T H ing on this new product. We then formed a consortium with them, along with the ALS Association and the Robert Packard Foundation and Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein, M.D., a neurologist and world-class ALS expert at Johns Hopkins Medical School. This led to the generation of extensive preclinical data. COETZEE: One of our advantages as a major funder of bench-to-bedside MS research is that we have an unbiased view about what's exciting and happening in a particular disease and, importantly, where the gaps and opportunities are. As in the case of Amplimmune in those early years, we start looking at opportuni- ties if the scientific underpinnings of the program are sound, have strong potential, are innovative, and have a clear runway for development. We also look at whether they have a strong business and science team. Then we step through a process of bringing together scientific and business experts in a VC-like due-diligence process, where we give them feedback on where we see positives and negatives in their program and where it might be improved in order for us to make our investment. We even facilitated a connection between Amplimmune and an academic collabo- rator, Dr. Steve Miller of Northwestern University. The MRF focuses its support for drug develop- ment even further back in the PoC process, functioning as a nonprofit research laboratory churning out new discovery, translational, and preclinical tools, such as a new mouse model, for the focus area of the Foundation: to sup- port the drug discovery of myelin repair MS therapeutics. Then it essentially makes the tools readily available, with a low-cost barrier, to any company to test a new drug for myelin repair. It also sponsors and advises MS clinical trials in myelin repair. CHANG: When MRF began in 2004, there was no pharma company investigat- ing myelin repair in MS. Our five-year goal then was to attract pharmaceutical interest; in 10 years, we wanted to get to Phase 1, and by 15 years, bring a drug to market. In our founder's view, if we don't meet those ambitious time lines, we deserve to fail, but so far we are on track, even ahead of schedule. In our expert research meetings, when the academic researchers present their latest findings, the industry experts on our advisory boards are there to say, "If you want this to reach patients, you also need to think about X, Y, and Z." 0 6 1 4 _ B a y b i o 3 . i n d d 4 0614_Baybio3.indd 4 5 / 2 1 / 2 0 1 4 1 2 : 5 9 : 5 5 P M 5/21/2014 12:59:55 PM