Astex and Cardiff University Announce New Drug Discovery Collaboration
Monday, February 13, 2023
Astex Pharmaceuticals and The Medicines Discovery Institute, Cardiff University (“MDI”) announced that they have entered into a multi-year, multimillion pound drug discovery research collaboration, to identify new drugs to treat neurodegenerative diseases.
Under the terms of the agreement, scientists at the MDI and Astex will collaborate to carry out drug discovery research against a chosen lysosomal target with the aim to identify and optimise compounds that modulate its activity.
This partnership will support and advance ground-breaking research with the potential to transform the lives of patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
The combined teams will focus on identifying compounds that modulate lysosomal activity as a way to develop potential new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases with high unmet medical need. Lysosomes are a subset of organelles that are crucial for cellular function and mutations in the genes encoding lysosomal and associated proteins are linked to a number of neurodegenerative and lysosomal storage diseases for which there are currently no effective treatments.
