A new drug research collaboration between pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and the University of California San Diego could deliver up to $50 million to local scientists over the next five years, speed the delivery of promising therapies to patients and help refill the fast-depleting pipeline of the world’s largest drugmaker. The partnership, which was announced Monday, aims to speed the movement of experimental drugs from the basic science laboratory into mid-stage human trials, through a space known in the industry as the “valley of death.” The federal government, through the National Institutes of Health, provides most of the money to fund basic science research at universities while venture capital investors often get behind new drug candidates once they show promise in human tests. Between those points, experimental compounds and molecules can languish for years without enough financial backing to move to the next stage of development.
