Date: 2014-06-19
Type of information: Collaboration agreement
Compound: UK Dementias Research Platform (UKDP)
Company: Medical Research Council (MRC), Araclon (Spain), MedImmune, the global biologics research & development arm of AstraZeneca (UK), GSK (UK), IXICO (UK), Janssen Research & Development in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation (USA), SomaLogic (USA), Cardiff University (UK), University of Cambridge (UK), University of Edinburgh (UK), Imperial College London (UK), Newcastle University (UK), University of Oxford (UK), Swansea University (UK), University College London (UK)
Therapeutic area: CNS diseases - Mental diseases - Neurogedegenerative diseases
Type agreement: collaboration
Action mechanism:
Disease: dementias, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease
Details: * On June 19, 2014, the Medical Research Council (MRC) has launched the UK Dementias Research Platform (UKDP), a £16 million (€ 20 million) public-private partnership set up to speed up research into dementias. The collaboration aims to enable earlier detection, improved treatment and, ultimately, prevention of the disease, by looking not just at what is going wrong in the brain, but at the brain in the context of the whole body. With the UKDP, the MRC is bringing together industry expertise and investigator teams from eight UK universities and teaming them with what will be the world’s largest group of participants in dementias research (more than two million people). The Platform will investigate the causes of dementia across a range of different neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease. The resource will also allow scientists to identify better biological and cognitive measures (biomarkers) of the key changes associated with dementia. This will enable them to develop new and more accurate clinical trials and find ways to limit and improve symptoms and quality of life for those affected. The UKDP was announced at the 2014 Global Dementia Legacy Event at the Guildhall, London, by Secretary of State for Health, the Right Honourable Jeremy Hunt. The event was organised to as a follow-up to the 2013 G8 Dementia Summit. The six UK and international companies (3 pharma, 3 SME) have signed a consortium agreement which will allow shared access to the research resources and the rich and unique data in the UKDP, and provide a basis for instigating joint studies. These companies have chosen to invest in the partnership in spite of many competing priorities and other opportunities in dementias research worldwide, eg. SomaLogic, which is based in Colorado, has decided to establish a research base in the UK as a result of the Platform. A number of other companies have held in depth discussions with MRC about involvement in the UKDP, and have retained an interest in joining the partnership at a later point. The NIHR-funded Translational Research Collaboration in Dementia, spanning six NHS Trusts, is also a stakeholder in the UKDP. NIHR has recently instigated a feasibility study to identify biomarkers in Alzheimer’s Disease, in partnership with MRC, which if successful will lead to a full joint MRC-NIHR funded project that will be incorporated into the UKDP in 2015.
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