A Practical Guide to Drug Development in Academia: The Spark Approach

"A lot of hard-won knowledge is laid out here in a brief but informative way. Every topic is well referenced, with citations from both the primary literature and relevant resources from the internet." Review of first edition from Nature Chemical Biology

Written by the founders of the SPARK program at Stanford University, this book is a practical guide designed for professors, students and clinicians at academic research institutions who are interested in learning more about the drug development process and how to start transforming their basic research discoveries into novel drugs. Often many potentially transformative basic science discoveries are not pursued because they are deemed ‘too early’ to attract industry interest. This comprehensive book lays out simple, relatively cost-effective things that academic researchers can do to advance their findings to the point that they can be tested in the clinic or attract more industry interest.

Each chapter broadly discusses an important topic in drug development, from discovery, optimization and preclinical studies through clinical trial design, regulatory issues and marketing assessments. After the practical overview provided here, the reader is encouraged to consult more detailed texts on specific topics of interest.

The SPARK model has been adopted in over 60 institutions on six continents, and the program has been honored with multiple awards including the 2020 Xconomy Award for Ecosystem Development, the 2020 Cures Within Reach Award for Patient Impact Research, and the 2022 California Life Sciences Pantheon Award for Academia, Non-Profits, & Research.

The new edition updates every chapter with the latest developments since the 2014 publication of the first edition.

Daria Mochly-Rosen, Ph.D., is the George D. Smith Professor of Translational Medicine, a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine, and Founder and Co-director of SPARK at Stanford. She received her Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science, and was a postdoctoral fellow of biochemistry at University of California, Berkeley. She joined Stanford University in 1993 and served as the chair of her department for four years and then Senior Associate Dean for Research for seven years. She leads a multidisciplinary laboratory that includes basic researchers and clinicians, which recently focused their efforts on neurodegenerative diseases. In 2003, her lab’s research led to the founding of KAI Pharmaceuticals, where she served as CSO for one year, and as chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee and a member of the Board of Directors after her return to academia. She also co-founded two other biotech companies. In addition, Dr. Mochly-Rosen served on a variety of review groups including the Peer Review Advisory Committee of the NIH and the Council of Councils of the NIH.

Kevin Grimes, M.D., M.B.A., is a Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine and Co-director of SPARK at Stanford. He received his M.D. from Brown University and after his internship and residency at Stanford, he joined the Stanford faculty as Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine. Dr. Grimes then received his M.B.A from Stanford University and served as a White House Fellow. He later worked in the medical device and biotechnology sectors before returning to academia. He currently teaches drug discovery and development and teaches and practices internal medicine at Stanford.