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Research Collaboration Challenges

Research collaboration between pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions are replete with challenges.  These challenges are:

  • Resource constraints, the most frequently mentioned category, refers to the limited availability of human, monetary and organizational resources
  • Legal and administrative process complexity includes challenges due to ‘paperwork’, internal approval processes, ethical reviews, and contract negotiations
  • Coordination challenges relate to difficulties in teamwork, the frequency and quality of communication, the coordination of tasks and the exchange of goods and knowledge
  • Scientific challenges arise from negative results, issues with the scientific methodology and difficulties in interpreting data
  • Goal alignment challenges, relates to diverging expectations and goals among project members and insufficient priority of the project in the partnering organizations
  • Interpersonal challenges include issues related to differences in project members’ individual attitudes, behaviours and interests, a lack of trust in the partner, a lack of commitment by single project members and interpersonal conflict
  • Technological challenges arise from scarce knowledge on new technologies and methods, uncertainty in the technical feasibility of methods and unreliable experimental techniques.
To learn more about these challenges, click here

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Exicure adds new sites

Exicure has added four new clinical trial sites for its Phase Ib/II trial of AST-008 for the treatment of various cancer types.   The sites are based in the US, including Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Massachusetts, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa, John Wayne Cancer Institute at Providence St John’s Health Center in California, and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami in Florida.

Exicure CEO Dr David Giljohann said: “We are encouraged by the results of our Phase I clinical trial, which demonstrated that our drug is well-tolerated and activates key immune cells and signals.”

The initial stage of the open-label Phase Ib/II trial includes a dose-finding Phase Ib stage, where AST-008 is expected to be evaluated in combination with an anti-PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda). The Phase Ib stage is set to be followed by a Phase II expansion stage.

Exicure aims to enroll patients with superficial injectable tumours as part of the Phase Ib portion of the trial.  For more on this update, click here. 

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