About Us
Our Purpose
Unlocking the potential of Stanford’s biomedical discoveries and finding a speedy pathway to developing medicines.
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IMA Superhighway
At the IMA, we accelerate scientific breakthroughs at Stanford and help them find the speediest path to patients. With access to the world’s most celebrated biomedical science community coupled with our experienced drug discovery team, we help fast-track the prototyping of new medicines while also enabling patient-facing studies that inform the development of these medicines.
Think of the IMA as a navigation system along a superhighway, with on-ramps and off-ramps at critical stages of drug discovery and early development.
Shaping the Future of Medicines
Along this superhighway, it is the dedicated scientists of the IMA who facilitate the transformation of Stanford’s biomedical breakthroughs into game changing medicines. These scientists include individuals with immense industrial experience and diverse domain expertise ranging from high-throughput screening and medicinal chemistry to the prototyping of protein and gene therapies and the development of informative non-clinical models of complex diseases. They also include experts in clinical investigation and regulatory affairs.
At its core, every IMA project is led by a triumvirate of the faculty innovator, a senior member of the IMA scientific team, and a project manager who collaboratively shepherd the goal- and milestone-driven project through its various stages of validation and scaling.
Unlocking Stanford’s Innovations
We are on a mission to fulfill the promise of Stanford University to be more purposeful with the knowledge we create for the greater benefit of society. To act on this mission, we identify fundamental scientific breakthroughs made by our faculty and pressure test them to see if they can be turned into impactful medicines.
Our end goal is to bring the benefits of that research outside of Stanford through partnerships with external entities such as pharmaceutical companies, life science investors, fast-growing biotechs, or even fledgling startups that are resourced to deliver these advancements to patients worldwide.
Why the IMA Works
The IMA takes a differentiated approach to developing new medicines.
Competitive Project Selection
Criteria for project selection include solving an unmet medical need, having first-in-class potential, being highly differentiated, and building upon the deep expertise of Stanford’s scientists and physicians.
Disease and Modality Agnostic Pipeline
Prioritizing innovation and unmet medical need, rather than commercial potential, leads to a broad and diverse pipeline.
Active Portfolio Management by Industry Experts
Provides industry-like support that currently does not exist in academia, ensuring efficient advancement of the projects with the highest likelihood of success; faculty partner closely with project managers and staff subject experts, establishing specific milestones and deliverables.