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 Why look for needles in a haystack? At Exelixis, our discovery initiatives begin with a library of over 4 million compounds which we believe are high-quality and provide a platform for developing innovative compounds. We are committed to developing innovative therapies that have the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes for cancer. We are building a portfolio of compounds that have first-in-class and best-in-class potential through our own research and development initiatives. We believe that our ability to commercialize novel therapies requires building a critical mass of resources – personnel, technology, intellectual property, and capital – at each step of the drug development process. For nearly 20 years, conventional wisdom in the biotechnology industry held that companies could have scale or speed, but not both. At Exelixis, we are taking an unconventional approach to drug development, one that we believe is essential to overcoming the limitations of conventional approaches. We believe that creating the next generation of cancer therapies requires innovation in every part of our research, development and business organizations. Starting with a library of more than 4 million compounds, we integrate high-throughput processes, bioinformatics, structural biology and early in vivo testing in parallel to characterize thousands of compounds with remarkable speed. This approach leverages quantity to drive superior quality, by allowing us to select one or two highly qualified candidates from a larger pool of compounds that meet our extensive list of stringent criteria. Even with this vigorous selection process, we have maintained our momentum, filing twelve investigational new drug applications (IND) in just three years. We believe our deep pool of candidates will enable us to continue to file at least three INDs each year for the foreseeable futures. As our compounds advance into the clinic, we will generate a critical mass of data that will help us to understand the full clinical and commercial potential of our product candidates. In addition to guiding the commercialization of innovative therapies, these data may contribute to the understanding of disease and help improve treatment outcomes. By investing more in each step of the path from bench to bedside, we are enhancing our ability to create novel therapies that have meaningful clinical and commercial value. |
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