Date: 2011-12-05
Type of information: R&D agreement
Compound:
Company: AstraZeneca (UK) Medical Research Council - MRC (UK)
Therapeutic area: Neurodegenerative diseases - Cancer - Oncology - Lung diseases - Neuromuscular diseases - Rare diseases
Type agreement:
Action mechanism:
Disease: Alzheimer’s disease, lung disease, motor neurone disease, muscular dystrophies
Details: AstraZeneca and the Medical Research Council (MRC) have concluded a landmark agreement. A wide range of compounds will be made available free of charge to UK next year. Academia will be granted access to 22 compounds, developed by AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca had conducted early trials of these compounds and validated their use for future research, but had put them on hold for further development. This collaboration extends the possible application of these compounds for use in new areas. Through MRC funding, UK academia will conduct studies to better understand what drives a range of diseases with a view to exploring new treatment opportunities. As part of the collaboration with AstraZeneca, the MRC is inviting research proposals from across the UK academic community to use the compounds in new areas. The MRC will judge and select the best scientific proposals, and award up to £10 million in total to fund research across a broad range of human diseases.
The rights to intellectual property (IP) generated using the compounds will vary from project to project but will be equitable and similar to those currently used in academically-led research. AstraZeneca will retain rights over the chemical composition of the compounds, which have taken millions of pounds to develop so far, and any new research findings will be owned by the academic institution.
A two-stage process will be used to identify projects that are feasible, do not duplicate existing studies and do not directly contribute to AstraZeneca development programmes. Any potential projects which duplicate or overlap AstraZeneca’s active development programmes will not be eligible for MRC funding, but the company may choose to work with the researchers directly.
Financial terms:
Latest news: * On October 31, 2012, the Medical Research Council (MRC) has announced £7 million of funding for 15 research projects awarded through this collaboration with AstraZeneca, which gave academic researchers unprecedented access to 22 chemical compounds. Scientists will use the compounds to study a broad range of conditions from common diseases like Alzheimer’s, cancer and lung disease through to rarer conditions such as motor neurone disease and muscular dystrophies.
Eight of the projects will involve clinical trials of potential new therapies, and seven will focus on earlier work in laboratory and animal models. All the projects will increase our understanding of human disease and accelerate the search for innovative treatments.
After looking at over 100 expressions of interest, the MRC received 23 full funding proposals. The applications were assessed by the MRC, independently of AstraZeneca through international expert peer review, and the 15 successful proposals were selected on the basis of scientific quality and importance.
The rights to intellectual property (IP) generated using the compounds will vary from project to project, but will be equitable and similar to those currently used in academically-led research. AstraZeneca will retain its existing rights relating to the compounds and any new research findings by the academic institution will be owned by the academic institution.
