Wellcome Trust: Mind the Funding Gap

Dr Georgios Trichas

About us Global independent charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in health by supporting the brightest minds.

Our History

The Wellcome Trust was set up in 1936 under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome, who vested the entire share of his pharmaceutical company, The Wellcome Foundation (sold in 1995), in a charitable trust.

Endowment in 1936 - $124,000

• Endowment of $25bn

• Sponsor of >5000 researchers globally

• 60 years of continuous support for research

• Spend ~$1.2 billion per year

• Translational Funding ~$136m

Today

Organization

Science

Innovations Translational

Hypothesis Driven

Culture & Society History & Education

Investments Capital growth of endowment

Equity & Equity Long/Short Absolute Return & Buyout Healthcare & Venture Property & Infrastructure Private Equity

Evergreen Fund

Bridge the gap between fundamental research and commercial application.

Fund applied research and development projects to a stage where they are attractive to a follow-on funder, such as venture capital firms, industry and public-private partnerships.

Driven by unmet medical need

Innovations: Our Purpose

Translational funding to date

Input 303 projects supported Range: £25K - £11.2M £534 million committed

Output £1.19billion leveraged

32 exits via M&A/listing or licensing, 15 products launched

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02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13

GB

P (£

) Mill

ions

Funding Year

Award Commitments GBP £m

Translation FundInnovative engPathfindersHealth InnovIndia H'careMed EngSDDSACsSTATA

£1.8m£7.5m

£15m £15.8m

£37.5m

£57.1m

£81.5m£73.3m

£61.5m

£83.2m£88.6m

Diagnostics11%

Enabling Technology14%

Medical Devices23%

Regenerative Medicine

4%

Therapeutics40%

Vaccines8%

Therapeutic Areas funded

Technology Types funded

Funding Programmes Available

R&D for Affordable Healthcare in India

Seeding Drug Discovery

Translation Fund Pathfinders

• Facilitate early-stage small-molecule drug discovery • Starting points - novel drug target or new chemistry • Global eligibility, 2 calls per year, triage committee

then full committee • Two entry points to the scheme

• ‘Early stage’ projects fund screening to identify lead series molecules - up to 2y, £1-2m

• ‘Late stage’ projects to support lead optimisation and preclinical development to clinical trials - up to 4y, £3-5m

• Next deadline 5th November 2014

Seeding Drug Discovery

Target Discovery

Lead Optimisation Hit to lead

Assay Development

Pre-clinical Evaluation IND filing

years 3-6 month 6-12 month 12-24 month 12 month Development (years)

“To develop drug-like, small molecules that will be the springboard for further R & D by the industry in areas of

unmet medical need”

Early Late

Seeding Drug Discovery

• To develop innovative and ground-breaking new technologies in the biomedical area

• Already demonstrated proof of principle • Across types of technology and therapeutic areas • Global eligibility - two rounds per year • Normally £0.5m - £5m over 2-4y • Apply by concept note, preliminary applications by

invitation only • Next deadline 24th October 2014

Translation Fund

Funding Model: Not-for-profit organisations

• Funding is based on the Trust’s Standard Funding agreement template (available on website)

• Project revenue is normally split 50:50 between organisation and Trust

• Funding only covers project related cost (no overhead costs)

• Funding is tranched and milestone dependent • Tranches released on successful completion of a

Milestone (Go/No Go Decision Point)

The fine(r) print • For the SDD programme, the Trust normally expects

to be responsible for commercialisation of the Project IP

• Where the organisation is responsible for exploitation of Project IP, the Trust expects to have step-in rights

• The Trust will exert project oversight through participation in Research Steering Group meetings

• Project IP is owned by the organisation

• While the Trust supports dissemination of results all publications must be approved by the Intellectual Project Management Group

Wellcome Trust: Mind The Funding Gap

The Application Process

Triage Committee

Staff Committee

Concept Note (Translation Fund Only)

Preliminary Application

Full Application

Funding Committee presentation

Expert Reviews & Due Diligence

The Seven Deadly Sins

I. Weak scientific rational (target validation)

II. Healthcare impact limited / unrealistic competitive advantage

III. Major practical implementation hurdle

IV. Major chemical hurdle / low probability of success

V. Lack of key expertise VI. Poor project plan / under-

resourced VII. Unrealistic ‘exit’ / Target Product

Profile

Some awardees