AstraZeneca And Max Planck Institute To Build Satellite Chemistry Unit
AstraZeneca announced that it has teamed up with the Germany-based Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology (MPI) in a research agreement to build a satellite chemistry unit for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (CVMD).
The satellite chemistry unit will be linked to AZ’s CVMD Innovative Medicines unit (iMed) based in Mölndal, Sweden to research new modalities in chemistry such as macrocycles, stabilized peptides, and conjugation chemistry. Scientists and researches from both parties will work in close collaboration under the leadership of Professor Herbert Waldmann in MPI’s Department of Chemical Biology.
Marcus Schindler, VP and Head of CVMD iMed at AstraZeneca, said, “Based on our excellent ongoing collaboration with Professor Waldmann’s group and the interdisciplinary Chemical Genomics Centre, we are confident that this innovative new partnership will result in exciting scientific findings, addressing chemical challenges primarily in the field of new modalities.”
This is not the first time AstraZeneca joined forces with a research institute to find answers to difficult medical problems. Last year AstraZeneca established a similar partnership with the Sweden-based medical university Karolinska Institutet, which resulted in the launch of an Integrated Translational Research Centre (ICMC) for CVMD and regenerative medicine. The Karolinska Institutet partnership, like this most recently announced partnership, was focused specifically on three research areas: Cardiac Regeneration, Islet Health (diabetes), and Diabetic Nephropathy.
CVMD represents a core therapeutic area for the giant British drug maker. The collaboration with the Max Planck Institute will push the drug maker further on its journey towards identifying new targets in its CVMD research areas, namely cardiac regeneration, islet health, and diabetic nephropathy.
Professor Herbert Waldmann, Director of the Department of Chemical Biology, MPI Dortmund, said, “This novel concept for a strategic alliance between an innovation-driven pharmaceutical company and a leading biomedical institute like the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology promises to break new ground for drug discovery.”
In addition, the Institute’s Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) has also established a two-year partnership with AZ focused on drug discovery for diseases with urgent, unmet medical needs. AstraZeneca agreed to add 250,000 high-quality compounds to LDC’s internal screening collection for the advancement of projects focused on oncology, infection, respiratory and inflammation, cardiovascular, neuroscience, and gastrointestinal research.