The D3lab emerged from the DKFZ-Bayer Immunotherapeutics laboratory that over the past 10 years served as the hub for immuno-oncology (I.O.) drug development in the context of the DKFZ-Bayer Strategic Alliance. During this period, our lab functioned as the interface between our academic colleagues at DKFZ and the various functions at Bayer Pharma, thereby bridging the cultural differences between academia and pharmaceutical industry, often referred to as the valley of death. This resulted in a vibrant pipeline of >30 diverse drug discovery projects aimed at the development of I.O. biologicals and small molecule drugs. For 4 of these projects, our lab was involved in the complete trajectory from target validation, through early and late stage drug development, towards the achievement of INDs (investigational new drug applications).
Since the conclusion of the DKFZ-Bayer Strategic Alliance per mid-2024, our team continues this mission as D3Lab, with the goal of valorizing in-house research findings to a level that supports effective clinical translation. Notably, the latter usually requires funding and infrastructure that is not available in academia, and therefore partnering with pharma or founding of a spin-off biotech venture. A typical problem in academia is that scientists file a patent priority application with the intent to enable clinical translation, but subsequently focus on concluding the publication of their finding, after which they move on to creating their next publishable story. Given the ‘publish or perish’ culture, this is fully understandable. The logical, but unfortunate consequence is that the creation of further value with respect to the IP intellectual property (IP) filing is put on the backburner. Notably, the period of two and a half years following the priority filing offer a critically important time window for validation and consolidation of the invention(s) concerned. Subsequently, the IP filing enters the national phase, in the context of which separate filings in different regions/countries of the world have to be arranged and managed. This is when management and maintenance of patents becomes very expensive.
Bottom line: in an academic environment such as the DKFZ, patenting of research findings is only sustainable when limited to well-consolidated IP filings with a clearly defined market potential. The pursuit of IP noncompliant with these standards is a notoriously lossy practice. To avoid an expanding patent portfolio lacking payoff potential, the Go/No-Go requirement for each priority application must therefore involve a well-defined plan towards validation and consolidation of the IP concerned. A main hurdle in implementing this, is the fact that academic scientists are not familiar with critical path research, the rules of which are very different from regular preclinical experimentation. This is where our D3Lab-team, based on hands-on experience, can advise and make concrete experimental contributions. Notably, the scope of the lab has been extended to oncology drug discovery, the rationale being that the honeymoon years of I.O. are over. Consequently, the focus of drug discovery has shifted back to mechanisms directly affecting tumor malignancy. Given the experimental and conceptual complexity of I.O. research, especially with respect to in vivo pharmacology, this is not an obstacle for our team.
Nevertheless, the second main hurdle with respect to the implementation of critical path research is more difficult to overcome. Fact is that true incentives for allocating efforts and resources towards this goal are currently lacking, both for individual scientist and for academic institutes. In spite of all good intentions to improve patient care, the primary criterion for valuing research output is still the number and impact of academic, peer-reviewed publications.
The decision by the DKFZ Management, after conclusion of the DKFZ-Bayer Alliance, to support continuation of our lab indicates that these matters are currently on the DKFZ agenda. In the context of our new mission, the D3Lab team is currently focusing on three efforts:
Management of the former DKFZ-Bayer portfolio, currently including 8 projects, in particular by addressing critical issues concerning experimental validation and market value. Go/No-Go decisions will be made by the end of 2025, based on the aforementioned criteria, with respect to continuation of these projects and maintenance of the corresponding IP.
Engagement with selected DKFZ colleagues on novel drug discovery projects, with a focus on validation of the underlying concepts (thus far, 2 projects were initiated)
Orchestration of a systematic exchange with the DKFZ Innovation Management Department involving critical evaluation of the existing IP portfolio, as well as establishment of a new workflow to provide guidance to DKFZ scientists with respect to the filing and consolidation of new IP.
