An invitation-only workshop jointly organized by UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) Neuroscience Research Institute and the MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering (LFE).
Meeting Co-Hosts: Professor Kenneth S. Kosik, UCSB; and Professor Andrew W. Lo, LFE
Date: February 1, 2018
Location: Mosher Alumni House, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
The aim of this workshop is to explore innovative approaches to developing new therapeutics and technologies for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, and new financing structures and business models for addressing the associated funding challenges in a scalable and profitable manner. Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about specific Alzheimer’s-related projects and R&D efforts, and biomedical experts will have the opportunity to learn more about funding opportunities and potential financing methods for attracting capital.
The Problem
Compared to many other diseases, Alzheimer’s is considerably more challenging because new therapies and technologies for neurodegenerative diseases are more expensive to develop, take longer, require a larger sample of patients, and are generally more complex. And in an environment in which funding for biomedical research is declining, Alzheimer’s-related R&D becomes even more difficult.
The Hypothesis
The so-called “Valley of Death” in translational medicine is the result of many causes, but a common thread among them is increasing financial risks in the biopharma industry and greater uncertainty surrounding the economic, political, and academic environments within the biomedical ecosystem. Increasing risk and uncertainty inevitably leads to an outflow of capital as investors and other stakeholders seek more attractive opportunities in other industries.
The Proposal
By spreading the risk of translational medicine across a much larger pool of investors and increasing the number of “shots on goal”, the risk to all investors is lowered and the chances of one or two successes is much higher. If several research organizations were able to pool their biomedical intellectual property, they might be able to attract much larger amounts of capital even for highly speculative but transformative early-stage R&D.
This meeting will bring together a multi-disciplinary group of stakeholders and key thought leaders from academic medical centers and university research laboratories, financial institutions, foundations and endowments, pharma and biotech, non-profits and patient advocacy organizations, and government to engage in active dialogue regarding specific funding needs, potential new business and legal structures, and new sources of capital to fund such enterprises. Topics will include:
- Innovative scientific directions that deserve more attention/funding or are not currently being pursued
- The current funding challenges in Alzheimer’s research and drug development
- Potential new business and financing structures to address these challenges
Objectives
To explore innovative approaches to Alzheimer’s research and drug development, and develop a comprehensive and actionable plan for implementing them.