Michael J. Fox Foundation CEO Todd Sherer, PhD, joins the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in Washington, DC, today as the Council releases new recommendations to the President for speeding drug development.

Todd was not one of the authors of the PCAST recommendations, but based on the draft we read, the Council is highly aligned with MJFF’s position on what it will take to meaningfully move the dial toward cures. The release centers on the formation of a Partnership to Accelerate Therapeutics to fill key knowledge gaps, improve clinical trial capabilities, and clarify the development pathway for innovative medicines. And like our Foundation, PCAST believes that high-level partnership is the only way to get where we need to go. The draft reads, in part: “We believe that most of the critical needs in drug development cannot be addressed by individual actors or sectors, but rather require a strong partnership involving — and driven by — the non-federal community, including industry, academic researchers, patient and consumer groups, physicians and insurance companies.”

This is the latest in an encouraging string of recent announcements of collaborative, pre-competitive approaches designed to bring new drugs to patients faster. Last week, 10 biopharmaceutical companies said that they would collaborate to build a new nonprofit organization designed to accelerate drug development, called TransCelerate. The week before that, Todd was in DC for the inaugural meeting of NCATS, the first U.S. agency exclusively dedicated to fostering translational research.

PCAST is an advisory group of the nation’s leading scientists and engineers who directly advise the President and the Executive Office of the President. PCAST makes policy recommendations in the many areas where understanding of science, technology, and innovation is key to strengthening our economy and forming policy that works for the American people.