AstraZeneca announces new research alliance

AstraZeneca is planning to work with four international research laboratories to study a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, the apolipoprotein E4 genotype (ApoE).

Members of the newly-established collaboration include Dr David Holtzman of the Washington University in St Louis and Dr Peter Davies of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.

Known as the A5 alliance, the partnership will look at the science behind ApoE in order to discover new disease-modifying targets for drug production.

Dr Menelas Pangalos, executive vice-president of innovative medicines at AstraZeneca, said: "The A5 alliance … is a prime example of the great minds we hope to bring together in the search for new medicines to help people who suffer from neurodegenerative diseases."

The organisation will be headed up by Dr Steven Paul of Weill Cornell Medical College.

This comes as the company announced its acquisition of a portfolio of neuroscience assets from Link Medicine Corporation, a US-based biopharmaceutical firm.