Giving insight into the history of the biotechnology industry, the research and development process of drugs as well as how to start-up a biotechnology business was the focus of the seminar delivered by Dr William Strohl, Vice President of the Biotechnology Center of Excellence at Janssen Research and Development Spring House, Pennsylvania, at DUT.
Dr Strohl – who delivered his seminar at the University’s Hotel School, Ritson Campus – was invited by the Faculty of Applied Sciences under the helm of its Executive Dean, Professor Suren Singh who said Dr Strohl is an inspiration to all those in the field of academia.
Dr Strohl also spoke about his company’s involvement in the clinical trials of developing and releasing a multivalent filovirus vaccine, hopefully to be released by December this year (2015).
Dr William Strohl has a PhD in Microbiology from Louisiana State University. In 2013, Dr. Strohl became Vice President and Head of Biotechnology COE, Janssen R&D. He has over 130 publications and 17 issued patents, has edited two books and recently wrote a book entitled Therapeutic Antibody Engineering: Current and Future Advances Driving the Strongest Growth Area in the Pharma Industry which was published in October 2012.
Dr Strohl addressed DUT students and academics on what the industry was all about and the pharmaceutical process, adding that staring the process of manufacturing drugs was a long road often fraught with failure.
“About 50% of programs entering discovery are successfully passed on to preclinical development and if your program successfully passes this phase, it has an 8% chance of becoming an approved, marketed drug,” he said.
Dr Strohl also spoke about the various countries that are involved in clinical trials of drugs, including South Africa. He elaborated that studies are also continued even after the drug has been marketed in order to gather information on the drug’s effect in various populations and to check if it has any side effects associated with long-term use.
He also spoke about the processes involved in getting into the business of how to start a biotechnology business. “Setting up a start-up biotech company is very difficult and most fail. Nevertheless, there is a tremendous amount of funding available for the right ideas and people. A biotech start-up requires a unique offering that has its own intellectual property, a highly skilled and enthusiastic entrepreneur, funding and a niche where it can grow, thrive, and be successful,” he said.
– Waheeda Peters
Pictured: DUT’s Professor Kugen Permaul, Dr William Strohl and DUT’s Prof Suren Singh at the seminar.
