New U of S Drug Research Institute Opens in Innovation Place
Posted March 16, 2001
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ? Friday, March 16, 2001 2001-03-11-OTHER
New U of S Drug Research Institute Opens in Innovation Place
A unique-in-Canada drug research institute wholly owned by the University of
Saskatchewan has been set up in Innovation Place to develop new and safer
drugs and to train young researchers.
PharmaLytics Inc. is a not-for-profit institute that has evolved from an
internationally recognized research group in the College of Pharmacy and
Nutrition. Start-up funds come from the $1 million in accumulated revenues
earned by this group through research contracts with major pharmaceutical
companies.
PharmaLytics will participate in joint ventures with industrial partners and
private foundations to develop new drugs and undertake testing that will
bring new generic versions of drugs into the marketplace.
It will also develop clinical protocols for testing new formulations of
drugs, evaluate data for research collaborators in both academia and
industry, and carry out small-scale studies on healthy volunteers to
evaluate new drugs or new drug formulations.
"This institute will open the door to new research opportunities currently
not available to us," said PharmaLytics director Gordon McKay.
The new institute will operate as a separate entity but its board of
directors, comprising both U of S and industry representatives, will report
to the U of S board of governors.
"By creating an institute, our researchers will be able to meet regulatory
agency security requirements for drug testing, expand lab space, attract
capital investment partners, and be in a better position to react quickly to
the needs of industry," said Michael Corcoran, U of S Vice-President of
Research.
The institute is the only Canadian university-based laboratory that has
passed inspection by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The
institute has obtained this stature with the FDA and other regulatory
agencies due to the high standards of research and drug testing set by the
institute?s predecessor over the past 16 years. PharmaLytics will help the
FDA come up with minimum requirements for corporate drug testing and
undertake third-party testing of drugs for pharmaceutical companies.
PharmaLytics will continue to work with the College of Pharmacy and
Nutrition, acting as a research training ground for undergraduate, graduate
and post-doctoral students. Under a collaborative program with industry, the
institute will place a small number of undergraduate students in summer jobs
with pharmaceutical firms. Already four students have been placed in summer
research jobs in New Jersey.
"This program will help identify students who have a propensity towards
research and will hopefully allow us to recruit our own students for
research careers," McKay said. "At present, it?s very difficult to get local
undergraduate students into our own graduate programs because pharmacy
graduates can so readily find good jobs immediately after graduating."
PharmaLytics currently has 10 employees, but plans are to double the staff
within
a year.
Kamal Midha, an adjunct professor of pharmacy, will become the institute?s
research director, while Dr. Larry Korchinski, a professor in the College of
Medicine, will become director of clinical studies, and John Hubbard, a
professor of pharmacy, will serve as quality assurance officer.
The institute?s predecessor group set up a satellite laboratory at the
University of California at Los Angeles with funding from the U.S. National
Institute of Mental Health. The institute will continue to work
co-operatively with that lab.
As the institute grows, it will obtain sophisticated new equipment that will
be made available to researchers from many disciplines on campus. This
equipment would otherwise only be available in larger Canadian centres,
McKay said.
Innovation Place, located on land leased from the U of S, is one of the
leading research parks in North America with more than 110 tenant
organizations. Its proximity to U of S has helped foster the development of
advanced technologies in Saskatchewan.
For more information, contact:
Gordon McKay
Director, PharmaLytics Inc.
1-306-668-8580
mckay@sask.usask.ca
Kathryn Warden
U of S Research Communications Officer
1-306-966-2506
kathryn.warden@usask.ca
http://www.usask.ca/research
