The exploitation of biotechnologies has produced a wealth of innovative therapeutics, including first and second generation recombinant proteins, vaccines and humanized antibodies, many of which have come com from academic research.

The Università degli Studi di Milano has a long-standing tradition in genetics and pharmacology. Over the last two decades, this expertise has generated a sizeable portfolio of patented drugs and methods, a host of spin-off companies founded by academic researchers in pharmacology and genetics, and a growing number of contacts and contracts between the University and drugs firms.
In the delivery of biotech pharmaceuticals, these ongoing projects provide unique opportunities for driving the growth of new small companies and a basis for interacting worldwide with major centers in molecular medicine and drug development.

Drug development
A significant body of research at the University is conducted on target discovery, drug design, pharmacological screening and special toxicology.

Target validation
Basic research projects are investigating new targets identification and validation  for drug discovery.

Drug screening
In yeast, protozoan and fungal genetics, high-throughput systems have been developed for screening novel therapeutics acting as antifungals, in tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis and tropical malaria. Novel drugs have been formulated for treating atherosclerosis in cardiovascular disorders.

Drug design
Advanced studies currently focus on comparative structural genomics applied to virology and on innovative methodologies to generate bioactive compounds. These technologies include protein folding, chemical modification of chemopreventive agents and novel conjugation strategies to increase the half-life of therapeutic proteins. 

Pharmacological characterization and optimization
Physiological testing, cell reporter assays (applied to Ras-GTPases family members, nicotinic receptors, intracellular receptors and neuroplasticity-related signaling pathways), reporter animal assays (applied to intracellular receptors), tests based on bacterial kinase inhibition.

Special toxicology
Procedures based on innovative biosensors have been developed to monitor genotoxicity, teratogenicity and immune cell toxicity.

Vaccines
Innovative adjuvant formulations to induce long-immunogenic responses in children and adults have been applied to vaccines against meningitis and pneumonia.

Gene and cell-based therapies
Novel vectors for gene therapies have been developed for treating genetic diseases (e.g. lysosomal storage diseases and cystic fibrosis). Cell-based therapies foresee the use of stem cells for treating cardiac and immunological disorders in humans. Cell-based therapies have also been experimented to solve fertility problems in farm animals and for human reproductive health.