Erratum

Fig. 1. Components of the drug discovery process. (A) The traditional view of drug discovery assumes that academia conducts much of the basic research that leads to a mechanistic understanding of disease, but pharmaceutical companies alone cover most of the ground from target identification to new drug approval. Venture capital and small biotech companies are also involved, but their interest is often limited to the center ground of development and early clinical trials. Finally, academia might also be engaged to help with access to large patient populations for clinical trials and at the regulatory approval stage. (B) A more collaborative and integrated approach to drug discovery brings the various partners closer together and envisions expanded opportunities for academic investigators to collaborate with the for-profit sector throughout the process. In this scenario, academia's basic research role is expanded to include drug discovery. Whereas drug development is still dominated by pharmaceutical and biotech companies, academia might be more involved as a result of its development and understanding of appropriate animal models and an increasing willingness to instigate early (pilot and phase I) clinical trials.