Eisai and UCL Reach First Scientific Milestone in Neurodegenerative Disease Drug Discovery and Development Collaboration

HATFIELD, England, June 27, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

PRESS RELEASE NOT FOR U.S. MEDIA  

Validation of a novel therapeutic concept marks a first step towards a new therapy for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.   

The first scientific milestone in the validation of a novel therapeutic concept for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders was recently achieved by leading researchers from UCL (University College London) and Eisai. This represents the first step towards the development of a potential new drug aimed at treating the underlying cause of disease in an area where significant unmet medical need persists.

The development is made possible through an innovative collaboration between two world-leading scientific institutes, UCL, world leaders in neuroscience research, and the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, which has a strong heritage in the discovery and development of treatments for neurological conditions. Eisai's Neurology Business Group (NBG) Open Innovation strategy aims to identify and establish truly collaborative alliances which aim to bring novel and innovative therapeutics to patients.

"Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and related dementias represent a growing unmet medical need due to lack of effective treatments that can prevent disease progression. I am excited that our first project has reached this important milestone - hopefully the first of many. This builds on many years of partnership and collaboration with Eisai", comments Professor Alan Thompson, Dean of the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences.

The alliance with UCL forms a major part of Eisai's NBG UK Open Innovation strategy to explore collaborative drug discovery partnerships which augment and complement internal activities. UCL and Eisai formed this major collaboration in 2012 to discover and develop novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other related neurodegenerative disorders. In 2014, Eisai was named UCL Enterprise Corporate Partner of the Year in recognition of the company's commitment to exploring new ideas and paths to drug discovery in neuroscience through 'Open Innovation' with the world-leading academic institution.