Unlock the 3 keys to drug discovery success -foresight, hindsight and insight

Translating brilliant science into great medicines is a challenging, lengthy and expensive business. With drug discovery taking almost three years,¹ you need a laboratory partner who can enhance your chances of moving from an idea to a lead candidate and then to IND-enabling studies in a cost-effective and timely way.

Labcorp has a track record of drug discovery success. Our experienced teams bring the foresight, hindsight and insight that can help you avoid being blindsided during drug discovery. Read on to learn how you can fast-track development of your discovery phase therapeutic to the next inflection point in a cost-efficient manner, de-risk it and demonstrate the value needed to attract future investment.

Foresight: Start with the end in mind

If you don’t know where you are going, how will you get there? Articulating the destination of your therapeutic is essential for determining whether the asset in development is commercially viable and meets required milestones. A vital roadmap to your end destination is the target product profile (TPP). When used early and proactively, the TTP can propel your discovery program forward.

Target product profile (TPP)

The TPP is a planning tool for therapeutic candidates based on FDA guidelines that define the optimal and minimally acceptable profile of the final marketed product.² The TPP defines the goal of the therapy for patients and provides a document summarizing the vision and strategy for the product. This living document, which is developed early in development and updated often, provides the framework for making decisions on lead candidate and formulation selection. It also defines what studies need to be conducted when, minimizing risk and ultimately accelerating regulatory acceptance. 

Funding agencies and investors will look for a TPP when making funding decisions because the TPP demonstrates your competence as a developer, articulates the vision for the asset and inspires confidence in the product development plan. Many are looking to fund a specific drug product profile, and the TPP can help indicate your asset’s competitive advantage over current therapies. 

Labcorp’s foresight 

Labcorp’s team of directors of Drug Development and Regulatory Strategy (DD&RS) can help guide you in developing a TPP for successful drug discovery, lead candidate selection and commercialization. Explore our early phase development solutions. 

Keeping ahead of innovations and regulatory changes 

Labcorp’s DD&RS team has a clear forward-focus: they are up to date with scientific innovations and work frequently with regulatory authorities to understand changing regulatory environments. That makes them finely attuned to ways of avoiding potential pitfalls and challenges that could arise in your preclinical development plan. 

The DD&RS team can create a structured, risk-mitigated plan designed to deliver the critical proof of concept data when you need it. But it’s not just about planning; Labcorp supports study execution excellence as well. With a global team of more than 4,700 staff operating from more than 20 laboratory sites, we have the know-how, capacity and flexibility to run a wide range of the essential drug discovery activities that you might need. 

Going beyond the data to help you secure future funding

As well as collaborating with you to develop a sound preclinical discovery plan, we can also help you showcase the value of your asset to potential investors. Using MarketPlace, Labcorp's digital partnering platform, your assets can be presented to potential partners who are seeking to license or acquire innovative medicines. Whether you are looking for funding or even acquisition, MarketPlace can accelerate strategic conversations and propel you toward your partnering goals. Explore MarketPlace.

“MarketPlace gave us tremendous exposure across the industry and facilitated meaningful strategic collaboration discussions. We were able to strike a co-development deal with our lead asset within 90 days of publishing to MarketPlace.”
-Chief Business Officer, U.S. Biotech

Hindsight: Draw on past experiences

The lessons of the past are one of our most used and valuable tools in drug discovery. It is important to take time to explore data from past projects, evaluate how past choices have panned out and identify where and why scientific advances have been made. The resulting lessons learned can dramatically shape and inform plans, actions and future success. But it can be hard to build comprehensive drug-discovery hindsight across multiple domains, current and emerging techniques, therapeutic classes, diseases and regulatory frameworks. That’s why even the most experienced drug developers often don’t go it alone.

Sources of hindsight

In addition to personal hindsight and that gathered from colleagues and peers, published literature can be a great go-to source for learning from others' valuable experiences. However, for drug discovery, many preclinical successes and failures remain closely guarded secrets. On your drug discovery journey, how can you be sure you know what will and won’t work and when to conduct which specific studies to optimize outcomes and ensure you get the greatest value for your efforts? How can you avoid the errors others have already made and learned from?

Labcorp’s hindsight  

Leveraging our experience, rich history and proven track record will help boost your discovery program[AV1] . Our team brings significant experience in drug discovery, including combined decades of experience across multiple preclinical domains, therapeutic areas, drug classes and diseases. This means we can develop fit-for-purpose studies based on our learnings from previous projects and our active investment in continuous education and innovation. 

With over 2,000 discovery studies conducted per year, and extensive understanding of oncology, infectious disease, respiratory and drug metabolism, we can draw on our experience and expertise to help design and deliver the right study plan for you while mitigating risk.

Labcorp supported

Insight: The ability to understand deeply so you can enhance decision-making

Insight, in many ways, connects the past with the future. It comes from critically analyzing relevant data, both current and historic, and using the lenses of hindsight and foresight to help you make strategic decisions that future-proof and accelerate your drug discovery program. Insight results from aggregation and integration of multiple data points and perspectives, and the ability to identify the vital factors that matter most for your asset and discovery program.

Cross-functional domain expertise

For success in drug development, you need a range of domain experts working in collaboration to fully understand the data and how their independent domain-specific decisions might impact the success of the whole discovery program. How might metabolism data impact the dose range for toxicology studies? How does data from in vitro assays inform biomarkers for in vivo animal studies or even future human studies? The answers to these questions require integrated insight that draws on domain-specific expertise. 

Labcorp’s insight 

We value domain-specific expertise and have dedicated discovery laboratories focusing on pharmacology, early safety and drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK). We also understand the importance of integrating this specialist domain knowledge to inform discovery programs. Our integrated discovery approach provides effective data interpretation and the rapid generation of insights to speed up evidence-based decision making. This streamlines your discovery journey and accelerates your ability to demonstrate the value of your therapeutic. 

At Labcorp, our capabilities span hit validation through to candidate selection for both routine and complex programs. By leveraging our vast insight, we can provide flexible, agile approaches matched to your research needs and timelines. Explore our full discovery portfolio. 

Biopharmaceutical companies are focused on the cutting edge of science, applying their intellectual and innovative acumen to create scientific breakthroughs. However, translating that science into clinical success and commercial value remains challenging. By partnering with an experienced laboratory partner like Labcorp, your drug discovery plans can be future-proofed, as issues or gaps can be rapidly identified and addressed. This can accelerate and streamline your drug discovery journey, helping you hit your milestones and clearly demonstrate the commercial value of your asset. With the benefit you get from Labcorp’s extensive foresight, hindsight and insight.

Why Labcorp?

• Leverage Labcorp’s foresight when creating a TPP. This will enable you to better anticipate and address potential problems before they arise and build future-proof discovery plans designed to deliver proof-of-concept data when you need it. Use MarketPlace to attract and secure future funding
• We have an exceptional, proven track record of drug discovery success, bringing vast amounts of experience and hindsight that you can leverage in support of your drug discovery program
• Our capabilities span hit validation through to candidate selection. By leveraging our vast insight integrated across dedicated domain experts, we can provide flexible, agile approaches matched to your research needs and timelines