Successfully navigating the valley of death: the importance of accelerators to support academic drug discovery and development.

Introduction: The drug discovery and development 'valley of death' remains a challenge for promising new therapies originating from academic research laboratories. Drug discovery support centers and accelerators have been established to provide monetary and scientific support, but limited available funding along with cultural and expertise gaps remain obstacles for many promising technologies.

Areas covered: In this meta-opinion article, the authors summarize the literature around obstacles that academic drug discovery projects face, along with potential solutions and best practices. Topics covered include funding challenges, regulatory education, reproducibility, along with cultural and organizational considerations. It describes one accelerator in particular-Critical Path Institute's Translational Therapeutics Accelerator (TRxA)-that aims to overcome several of the mentioned challenges.

Expert opinion: The 'valley of death' remains a stubborn but not insurmountable part of the academic drug discovery and development landscape. Purposely designed accelerators can help, complementing more traditional intra- and extramural funding support.