The Dementia Consortium welcomes Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Takeda and Evotec to join the unique £9.5 million (~€10.85m) charity-industry dementia drug discovery collaboration.
This second phase of the Dementia Consortium sees the UK’s leading dementia research charity, Alzheimer’s Research UK, join forces to facilitate dementia drug discovery. The alliance includes health care company Johnson & Johnson Innovation and pharmaceutical company Takeda as well as the partner research organisation Evotec alongside existing strategic partners AbbVie, Astex Pharmaceuticals, Eisai, Lilly and MSD.
The perfect collaboration
Providing academic researchers with the funding, the Dementia Consortium also offers industry expertise and project management resources to capitalise on new drug targets for the treatment of the neurodegenerative diseases that cause dementia. Diseases include Alzheimer’s, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, as well as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease.
The collaboration brings a cost and risk sharing approach to robust target validation and catalyses the partnership between academic researchers, charity and pharmaceutical companies to translate novel drug targets towards the clinic.
Currently, the Dementia Consortium supports seven pioneering projects, with more set to get underway.
“Ultimate goal of helping patients”
Sir Simon Lovestone, Neurodegeneration Disease Area Stronghold Leader at Janssen Research & Development, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, said: “We are delighted to collaborate as part of the Dementia Consortium, and we believe this is an exciting approach to identify novel targets for drug discovery in neurodegeneration, with the ultimate goal of helping patients all over the world who suffer from debilitating central nervous system disorders.”
Dr Carol Routledge, Director of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, the UK’s leading dementia research charity adds: “We’re excited to welcome Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Evotec to the Dementia Consortium as we look to build on the excellent work it has achieved so far.
“The Dementia Consortium will give new opportunities for world-leading academic researchers to develop their novel and promising findings into treatments.
“Supporting these projects is vital in helping make scientific breakthroughs possible and bringing about a new life-changing dementia treatment.”
The Dementia Consortium
The Consortium is currently accepting applications for innovative new dementia targets with a rolling deadline for expressions of interest every three months. Successful projects may then be considered for licensing to industrial partners to facilitate the progression of novel treatments into the clinic.
