Collaboration launched to find next-gen medicines
16 Dec 2016 by Evoluted New Media
A new partnership will provide a £13m fund to advance development of next-generation medicines that are discovered during research at Oxford University.
A new partnership will provide a £13m fund to advance development of next-generation medicines that are discovered during research at Oxford University.
LAB282 will also provide an expert to assist in translating research outputs into new drug discovery and development programmes.Dr Adam Stoten, Head of Technology Transfer at Oxford University Innovation Ltd (OUI), a research commercialisation company, said: “This pioneering approach addresses a major unmet need by engaging LAB282’s partners, together offering world class medical research, commercial drug discovery expertise and facilities, and significant investment resources.”
This public-private partnership will see the University of Oxford, OUI, Oxford Sciences Innovation plc (OSI) – an IP investment company, and Evotec AG, a drug discovery organisation. OUI will be used by Oxford University to source new projects. OSI will provide funding with Evotec providing drug discovery expertise and platforms to develop projects.
Researchers can apply for awards of up to £250k – potentially more in certain circumstances. LAB282 will initially run for three years. Should projects funded by this initiative produce positive results, spinout companies will be formed to further develop them, supported by LAB282 and/or new investors.
Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, commented: “LAB282 is a highly innovative partnership that elegantly combines core strengths of academia, biotech, venture capital and strong links to Pharma under one “roof”. Casting a wide net in terms of indications and technologies it is designed to accelerate in particular first-in-class and potentially disruptive early stage projects to value inflection points that will facilitate the formation of companies.”
