UCB and Lieber Institute for Brain Development announce partnership

UCB has entered into a new drug discovery partnership with the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, which is based in Maryland.

The new alliance will revolve around the discovery of new drug candidates for treating patients suffering from cognitive impairment, with the organisations to generate lead compounds and further optimise them using chemical compounds provided by both partners.

UCB believes the partnership will benefit from the specific interdisciplinary structure of the Lieber Institute, which offers unique levels of expertise in translating basic research and drug discovery into effective clinical proofs of concept.

This alliance comes as part of UCB's open innovation strategy, which is focused on leveraging external expertise and knowledge that complement its own internal capabilities and skills.

Ismail Kola, executive vice-president and president for new medicines at UCB, said: "Together, the two parties will embark on a mission to discover new medicines that aim to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases."

Earlier this month, the firm allied with 4SC Discovery and Crelux to identify and validate novel small molecule compounds for the treatment of neurological disorders.