Date: 2014-01-15
Type of information: R&D agreement
Compound: natural product center of excellence
Company: Sanofi (France) Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (Germany)
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Type agreement: R&D
Action mechanism:
Disease: infectious diseases
Details: * On January 15, 2014, Sanofi and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe\'s leading organization for applied research, announced today the creation of a natural product center of excellence to accelerate the discovery and development of new therapies to treat infectious diseases. Under the agreement, Sanofi and Fraunhofer IME (Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology) will collaborate to identify and optimize novel naturally occurring chemical or biological compounds, mainly in the field of infectious diseases. Penicillin, for example, is just one of a number of antibiotics derived from natural products. The approach may also be extended to other indications such as diabetes, pain and rare diseases, where natural products derived substances have proven to play an important role in treatment and disease prevention. Sanofi will share its strain collection, one of the world\'s largest, consisting of over a hundred thousand different micro-organisms, with Fraunhofer, and in addition is bringing its know-how in anti-infective research.
The joint team of scientists will be led by Prof. Dr. Peter Hammann, Sanofi R&D, head of External Innovation of the Infectious Diseases Unit, in close co-ordination with Prof. Dr. Andreas Vilcinskas, Division Director Fraunhofer IME, Giessen, and will work together on analyzing the genetic make-up of the strains, cultivating them under various conditions, stimulating them to produce active substances and investigating their effects.
Financial terms:
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