SBRI19005U Pharma I – Drug Discovery and Preclinical Development

Volume 2025/2026
Education

BRIDGE – Translational Excellence Programme

Content

This course provides an overview of the pre-clinical phase of discovery and development of medical drugs. The participants will be able to communicate professionally with the various specialist groups within the area of drug development.

 

The topics taught are:

  • Target finding and translational validation
  • Small-molecule hit identification and lead optimisation
  • Peptides and proteins as drugs
  • Non-clinical safety
Learning Outcome

Upon completing the course, participants should be able to:
 

Knowledge

  • Give an overview of the pre-clinical phase of discovery and development of medicines.
  • Identify correct professional terms in drug discovery and pre-clinical development of medicines.
  • List major steps and elements of the pre-clinical drug development process.
  • Outline definitions of key concepts and the fundamentals of the major disciplines in drug discovery and pre-clinical development.

 

Skills

  • Appraise the integration of the various basic disciplines into the process of discovery and pre-clinical development of medicines.
  • Analyse the sequence and flow of the various steps in the process of drug discovery and pre-clinical development.

 

Competences

  • Liaise with all steps of drug discovery and pre-clinical development.
  • Identify critical factors and bottlenecks that influence the pre-clinical drug development process.
  • Promote and state milestones for the progress of the pre-clinical development of a medical product.
  • Communicate professionally with the various specialist groups within the area of development of medicines.

The course literature will be listed on Absalon.

Participants must meet the admission criteria of the BRIDGE – Translational Excellence Programme.
The course is organised with a mix of scientific seminars by invited speakers, including technical lectures on modern technologies.

The first five course days of the Pharma I course correspond to week one of the course “Discovery and Development of Medicines”, held in the professional master’s programmes "Master of Industrial Drug Development" (MIND) and "Master of Medicines Regulatory Affairs" (MRA). MIND, MRA, and BRIDGE participants are taught together during this week. The sixth course day is only for BRIDGE participants. For the BRIDGE participants, the course includes group project work, where the participants will study and describe the discovery of a known drug in an oral presentation to the plenary.

The course will end with an evaluation, where participants must reflect on the course learning outcomes and provide feedback for course development.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 20
  • Preparation
  • 20
  • Practical exercises
  • 2
  • Project work
  • 8
  • Total
  • 50
Oral
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Credit
0 ECTS
Type of assessment
Continuous assessment
Requirement to attend classes
Type of assessment details
Attendance and active participation are required, including completing a group work assignment.
Examination prerequisites

Participants are automatically registered for the examination upon admission to the BRIDGE – Translational Excellence Programme.

Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
passed/not passed
Censorship form
No external censorship
Criteria for exam assesment

Active contribution and course participation according to the BRIDGE Guidelines and Practicalities.