Executive insight

Fredric Vinick joined Pfizer Central Research in 1978 where, over the course of a 16-year career, he worked in the areas of exploratory process research, CNS medicinal chemistry and exploratory medicinal chemistry. As the founder and Director of Pfizer’s New Leads group in 1986 he helped establish high-throughput screening, compound library acquisitions and high-speed chemical synthesis methods. While at Pfizer, Dr Vinick contributed to patents and publications on selective phosphodiesterase inhibitors, nonpeptide substance P antagonists and bradykinin antagonists.

In 1994, he assumed the position of Vice President, Drug Discovery at Genzyme Corporation, and currently holds the title of Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery and Development. Dr Vinick continues to have a major interest in highly efficient approaches to drug discovery, which manage the inherent risk of a low probability of ultimate success.

NGP. One of Genzyme’s goals is to develop and apply the most advanced technologies in life sciences. What would you say have been the biggest breakthroughs in the drug discovery field from this perspective?

FV. For the record, Genzyme does not have the goal of developing and applying the most advanced technologies – we’re all about practical products, however we get them. We’re not into the notion of needing to use the latest, greatest tools out there if we don’t really need them. My favorite breakthrough in the field is siRNA as means of validating targets, at least at one level; high-throughput screening and high-speed analoging have also been very important. DMPK in vitro screening is an essential part of the lead optimization process.

NGP. The company pioneered treatments for lysomal storage disorders in the early 1990s. In which areas are you primarily concentrating your drug discovery efforts now?

FV. We are working in the areas of renal disease, oncology, OA, immunology (especially transplant rejection), to name a few. There are others as well, some at a fairly early stage of research investigation.

NGP. Genzyme recently announced the expansion of a drug discovery program to offer new approaches to treating Malaria. Can you tell us more about its significance to your work, patients and the other partners involved?

FV. We made the decision to put a portion of our effort into ‘neglected’ diseases, malaria being a good case in point. We are working with the Broad Institute and the Swiss Institute of Tropical Medicine, trying to discover and develop small molecule drugs that would have marked advantages over the currently available drugs. The key here is truly the patients, not corporate profits.

NGP. What are the most challenging aspect of drug discovery when looking at niche areas, especially while trying to stay one step ahead of the competition?

FV. Niche areas are becoming less ‘niche’ as more and more people see such strategies as attractive businesses. The trick is to learn a few areas well and thus benefit from your own experience and institutional knowledge. We have to focus and make good choices.

NGP. Similarly, what do you see as the main obstacles to bringing drugs from the discovery phase to the next level?

FV. The big obstacle is efficacy in man. As we deal with more and more difficult diseases (high unmet medical needs; significant mortality and morbidity), the risk goes way up. We really need to be clever and creative at the discovery phase to improve our chances of achieving disease relevance and therapeutic success with a novel approach.

NGP. Life sciences has seen a flurry of merger and acquisition action recently. How is this boosting drug discovery – particularly your own new alliances?

FV. Genzyme, of course, has been a major player in this regard and continues to view M&A as a key strategy. It’s certainly been very good for us and makes us the company we are today. However, there simply aren’t enough great discoveries out there so the game is always tough. Our industry just doesn’t have the ability to produce what we want in a predictable, timely fashion.

NGP. Science and Forbes magazine has voted Genzyme one of the top companies to work for. How has the company culture helped foster and advance developments in the drugs arena?

FV. Genzyme has always supported entrepreneurialism and individual initiatives. There has always been a lot of freedom here to champion new programs. We’ve been successful in developing products this way versus more top-down driven, structured approaches.

NGP. With greater generics enjoying success at the expense of blockbusters, where do you think the drug discovery market will go from here?

FV. Tough question! The generic situation puts a higher and higher premium on novel new products. It’s a huge challenge. I think we may need a whole new discovery paradigm.