What Do Drug Discovery and Racing Have in Common?

First and foremost, both Racing and Drug Discovery are Team Sports. Race can never be won by one person and requires remarkable dedication and collaboration of the whole team. From engineers designing, developing and building the car, to people who analyze the live data as it comes off the acquisition system during the practice and who generate the race strategy. Race car would never leave the pits without team members, who tirelessly work on the car day and night getting it ready for the race, sometimes rebuilding it from ground up from crashes during the qualifying. On the day of the race everything needs to come together in flawless execution by the whole team to live up to the famous saying:

“To Finish First, You Must First Finish” - Juan Manuel Fangio

Many of the similar types of challenges we need to overcome to successfully discover drugs and get them across the “finish line”. It can only be done by a truly dedicated team of scientists, who come together as one. Most importantly, these people need to not be afraid to take the risks along the way, often venturing beyond their comfort zones and being comfortable living with all the uncertainty along the way.?

"If Everything Seems Under Control You are not Moving Fast Enough" - Mario Andretti

Team’s execution for both Racing and Drug Discovery can be compared the symphony of the most sophisticated race car engine running at the redline, where cylinders represent functional areas or areas of expertise. As race cars can never cross the finish line having even one misfiring cylinder - success of drug discovery programs can often be a question of having or not having right expertise at the right time within a team.

Secondly, speed is an essential component of both. In Racing it could be a split of a second, which determines the outcome even of a 24 h race, and it means that the winning car was only a fraction of a mile-per-hour faster overall to make it happen. In drug discovery we strive for a different kind of speed - we are working to get safe and efficacious drugs to patients as quickly as possible. Having said this, we would all admit the crucial component of “friendly” race between different discovery teams to the finish line for a “bragging rights” being “first-in-class” vs. “best-in-class” vs. “same-in-class”.

"What is Behind You Does Not Matter" - Enzo Ferrari

Thirdly, in order to win the race itself, a race car driver has to navigate the car through multiple turns, negotiating laws of physics and traction in remarkably consistent manner for a large number of laps. Each corner of the race track represents a unique challenge for maximizing the race car speed through it. This is a complex function of as late of a brake application as possible, turning in at the right time and place and taking advantage of the whole width of the allowed track surface, transitioning to full throttle as quickly as possible after the corner. Race car drivers also adjust their decisions in real time depending on the changing variables: tires condition, weather, track temperature and who and where are the other drivers around them at any given moment. We can all relate how important similar decisions are in Drug Discovery. Staying on top of ever emerging data, adjusting to it on a day-to-day basis, keeping up with the competitive landscape and learning and improving from others. And most importantly both Racing and Drug Discovery require a striking ability to embrace “failures” and resilience to never giving up.?

"The Winner Ain’t the One with the Fastest Car, It’s the One Who Refuses To Lose" - Dale Earnhardt

Last but not the least, both Racing and Drug Discovery require some luck. But luck doesn't just happen.

“Chance Favors the Prepared Mind” - Louis Pasteur

Which is very true again for both Racing and Drug Discovery.

Being a huge fan and having an addiction to Racing served as a motivation to incorporate some of the aspects of a very fun hobby into my other passion of Drug Discovery. Below is the “alternative” way of looking at the timelines for the Drug Discovery program. It overlays traditional stages of the program (HitID, H2L, LO) over the map of a race track, highlighting particular challenges and accomplishments which happen during the lap around the track and in every corner.?

I believe that making sure that there is a “fun” component in the Drug Discovery process is one of the powerful ways to bring the Team together, in particular, during the difficult times of overcoming challenges.?

"Racing Teaches Us to Challenge Ourselves. It Teaches us to Push Beyond Where We Thought We Could Go. It Helps Us to Find Out What We are Made of. This is What We Do. This is What it's All About" - PattiSue Plumer

So does Drug Discovery!

For those who are passionate about Racing and Drug Discovery, do you have other thoughts on similarities or differences between both??

What are the other hobbies you can compare to Drug Discovery?

How else do you bring the fun component into the Drug Discovery process??

*I thank the creators of few graphics I used in this article and found via image search*