Sanj Kumar
CEO, The European Laboratory Research & Innovation Group (ELRIG)
Recently, we’ve seen dramatically accelerated progress in the life sciences sector. Advances in automation technologies and ensuring deeper and continued cross-functional collaboration will be the key to its continuity.
The life sciences industry has always pursued new discoveries. And while progress has been growing in the last decade, the recent pandemic has revealed how we can better propel this pursuit: combining promising and proven technologies with deeper, broader collaboration.
New technologies for better treatments
A wealth of innovations has come to the fore, benefiting every facet of drug development, and ultimately advancing the way we treat some of the rarest and most complex diseases. Automation, AI and machine learning — for example — are unlocking more agile, adaptable workflows in areas of drug discovery that have traditionally been prohibitively time and labour-intensive. Thanks to these advances, researchers are developing new drugs and improving clinical outcomes.
At the same time, we’ve seen leaps forward in several novel therapeutic approaches which offer excellent promise for addressing what were previously untreatable diseases. Advances in ‘in vivo expressed biologics’ and CRISPR-based therapeutic gene editing, for example, continue to propel the speed and scale of the cell and gene therapies.
Thanks to these advances, researchers are developing new drugs and improving clinical outcomes.
Collaboration propelling innovation
Sustaining the speed and breadth of innovation — and translating new discoveries into better patient outcomes — requires the convergence of knowledge from all aspects of life sciences. Without a conduit through which knowledge can flow, we are less able to address challenges and risk slowing our pace.
In practice, this means encouraging and carving more space for the events, meetings and symposia that effectively connect communities and foster knowledge sharing. Such events will, no doubt, be the foundation of greater things to come.
Event in life sciences revolution
Drug Discovery 2022: Driving the Next Life Sciences Revolution is ELRIG’s free flagship event. It provides a platform for the entire drug discovery industry to convene and discuss the advancements propelling the industry forward. This year, they have partnered with the British Pharmacology Society, the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening and the Royal Society of Chemistry to deliver a progressive two-day event focusing on what’s driving the next life sciences revolution.
More information about the event can be found on ELRIG’s website.