Japanese collaboration will allow uni scientists to go ‘further, faster’

Dundee University welcomes foreign investment

Dundee University’s Drug Discovery Unit has announced a partnership with Japan’s largest pharmaceutical company to develop new therapeutic treatments.

Takeda will work in collaboration with university scientists on treatments for tau pathology, an underlying feature in several forms of neurodegeneration, including Alzheimer’s disease.

The financial details of the arrangement have not been disclosed.

Dr David Gray, head of innovative targets at the Drug Discovery Unit, said the arrangement will allow the research to go “further, faster”.

“Our mission is to bridge the gap between innovative life science research and drug development in areas of unmet clinical need and Alzheimer’s disease is at the top of the list.

“With support from Medical Research Council we are able to work with leading investigators such as Dr Will McEwan in Cambridge and Dr Leo James at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology to deliver programmes that are ready for industry to take forward.

“Teaming up with Takeda means we’ll get further, faster – bringing a potential treatment for this debilitating condition one step closer.”

Tau pathology occurs when the normal cellular protein, tau, misfolds and forms insoluble fibrils. It is found in the brains of sufferers of more than 20 different neurodegenerative diseases, of which Alzheimer’s is the most common.

The university’s Drug Discovery Unit is a fully integrated drug discovery group established in 2006 to translate world-class biology research into novel drug targets and candidate drugs.

Our mission is to bridge the gap between innovative life science research and drug development in areas of unmet clinical need. DR DAVID GRAY