Press release

October 20, 1999 Drug Development at Université de Montréal

Université de Montréal's Faculty of Pharmacy has created a new master degree program in drug development. From fundamental research to clinical experiments, including ethical questions, this program covers the complete scientific process leading to the commercial drug. It starts with the discovery of a promising molecule up to product marketing, including pre-clinical and clinical studies, as well as post marketing surveillance. This master degree program prepares specialists to respond to the needs of the pharmaceutical industry, those of government and of hospital services involved in drug development. One or two out of 10 000 molecules identified in the laboratory will become a marketed drug. All phases of drug development require rigourous processing under the supervision of high calibre specialists. "Drug development is a young domain, states France Varin, professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy and head of the program. We are the first canadian university to offer a drug development program at the graduate level. It is also one of the most extensive in North America." This new program, officially launched on October 14, will add a practical orientation to the Specialized Graduate Studies Diploma [D.E.S.S.] program in which over a hundred students are enrolled. The main partners involved in the drug development program of the Faculty of Pharmacy are Hoechst Marion Roussel, Merck Frosst, Novartis and Schering. Ten students will start their apprenticeship in the pharmaceutical industry or in the Therapeutic Products Program of Health Canada. "In a near future, adds Mrs. Varin, we would like to encourage hospital centres to offer apprenticeship programs to our students." -30-

Information Marie-Claude Chalvignac Université de Montréal Direction des communications Tel.: (514) 343-7704 Pager: (514) 423-0651