Eisai and UCL announce neurological disease collaboration

Eisai had announced a new collaboration with University College London (UCL) focusing on the development of neurological disease therapies.

The drug discovery and development collaboration will see both organisations working together to investigate innovative new ways of treating Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other related disorders.

Scientists will aim to identify and validate novel drug targets, develop new therapeutics and evaluate them in proof-of-concept clinical trials, with a joint therapeutic innovation group to oversee the work.

This is the first time that joint research will be conducted through a partnership involving a pharmaceutical company and a public institution in the UK.

Dr Lynn Kramer, president of Eisai's neuroscience product creation unit, said: "In this unique collaboration, we hope our complementary expertise will identify potential new drug targets that we can bring to market and make available to patients that need it the most."

This comes after the company recently announced a collaboration with Brazil's Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz to create new therapies for malaria and tropical diseases.