The University of Manchester has two, not one, new Big Pharma partners. Both GSK and AZ are teaming with the University to form the Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research devoted to inflammatory diseases.
The group will focus on translational research aimed at a variety of conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and asthma.
"The translation of basic research discoveries into new medicines is challenging, but we improve our chances of success thorugh collaborative science." says Dave Allen, senior vice president of respiratory research at GSK.
"The creation of this new centre is indicative of a new era of pre-competitive sharing within the pharmaceutical sector and with academic scientists, to bring our learning together to ensure the faster delivery of effective medicines to patients", said Dr Menelas Pangalos, executive vice president of innovative medicines at AZ.
This is just the latest in a host of Big Pharma-academic deals that have been announced in the last year and a half. It's obviously the hot trend in Big Pharma as it tries to restructure its R&D model. It's also another instance of a translational center being born - the NIH has also announced the formation of such a center to help speed development of important research findings to commercial products. See Fierce Biotech.
Posted by Bruce Lehr March 12th 2011.
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