AstraZeneca and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. (MTPC) announced a
three-year research collaboration in the area of diabetic nephropathy.
The aim of the research collaboration is to leverage complementary
strengths, expertise and assets to validate and progress novel research
targets and molecules into clinical development.
The
collaboration will span from target selection up to the delivery of
small molecule candidate drugs. Targets from each company’s early
research portfolios have been identified as approaches of common
interest and additional targets may be included under the collaboration
at a later stage, if mutually desired. The research will be performed in
parallel at AstraZeneca’s Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease
Innovative Medicines Unit (CVMD iMed) in Mölndal, Sweden, and at MTPC’s
facilities in Japan. The parties believe that the collaboration will
yield high quality candidate drugs much faster than working alone. There
is no financial commitment for the research involved and each party
will contribute equal resource at their own cost.
Diabetic
nephropathy (failure of the kidney function due to diabetes) occurs in
as many as 50% of patients who have diabetes for 20 years or more. It is
the leading cause of end stage renal disease which carries significant
morbidity of cardiovascular disease and mortality.
“Diabetes
is a core therapeutic area for AstraZeneca and a key growth platform
for the company. With current approaches to diabetic nephropathy
resulting in patients needing expensive and limited treatment options,
such as dialysis or kidney transplantation, there’s a significant unmet
clinical need. This collaboration will allow us to focus on early stage
programs and generate decision-making data faster than working alone,
ultimately providing a quicker expansion of our diabetic nephropathy
portfolio for the treatment of chronic kidney disease.” said Marcus
Schindler, head of CVMD Innovative Medicines Unit, AstraZeneca.
“MTPC
is now focusing its drug discovery research efforts and multifaceted
translational research, including collaboration with Kyoto University
Hospital and TMK project, to developing new treatments for chronic
kidney disease patients. We expect the new collaboration with
AstraZeneca will strengthen the expertise of both companies in this area
and accelerate the delivery of new medicines for patients with diabetic
nephropathy.” said Takashi Kobayashi, division manager of Research
division, MTPC
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