Eisai and UCL Form Major Drug Discovery Alliance to Develop New Therapeutics for Neurological Diseases

Eisai and UCL Form Major Drug Discovery Alliance to Develop New Therapeutics for Neurological Diseases PR Newswire HATFIELD, England, December 13, 2012 HATFIELD, England, December 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- UCL and the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, today announce the agreement to establish a major drug discovery and development collaboration. The unique alliance will involve researchers from both organisations working together to investigate innovative new ways of treating neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other related disorders. The goal of the collaboration will be to identify and validate novel drug targets, develop new therapeutics and evaluate them in proof-of-concept clinical trials. This will be the first time that joint research is conducted by a partnership involving a public institution in the UK and a pharmaceutical company. UCL and Eisai will form a Therapeutic Innovation Group (TIG) which will comprise experienced scientists from both UCL and Eisai with the principal function of facilitating and coordinating the discovery and assessment of emerging therapeutic targets involved in neurological diseases. The TIG will also be responsible for the co-development of completely new research areas of interest. A Joint Steering Committee (JSC) will be established to govern the TIG and will be co-chaired by UCL's Professor Alan Thompson and Eisai's Neuroscience Unit President, Dr Lynn Kramer.