ADDC and AstraZeneca partner to foster novel drug development among academic research community

BALTIMORE, June 17, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Academic Drug Discovery Consortium (ADDC) announced today a collaboration between ADDC and AstraZeneca aimed at facilitating efforts by researchers from academia and institutions towards the discovery of novel compounds with potential pharmaceutical application.  More specifically, the goal of this partnership is to provide ADDC members with access to a high quality compound library, while allowing AstraZeneca the opportunity to collaborate with academic researchers in the hope of identifying novel disease targets and drugs across a wide range of therapy areas.

The institutions selected to participate in this project will receive access to up to 250,000 compounds from AstraZeneca's internal screening library.  The compounds to be made available in this project are intended to provide a broad representation of AstraZeneca's industry-leading compound collection. 

In order to be considered for this project, candidate institutions must be members of ADDC and respond through a Request for Proposals (RFP) process.  Responses will be judged by a Technical Review Committee that will be comprised of representatives from ADDC and AstraZeneca.  It is expected that this process will initiate five projects per year, and that the term of the collaboration between the two organizations will be three years, with an option to be renewed.

"ADDC is pleased to partner with AstraZeneca to facilitate collaboration opportunities between the industry and academic drug discovery laboratories," said Barbara Slusher, Professor at Johns Hopkins and the President of the ADDC.  "Access to AstraZeneca's compound library will provide valuable hit compounds to jumpstart the drug discovery efforts of able, equipped academic researchers.  Furthermore, interaction with AstraZeneca scientists by selected institutions may provide subsequent research projects and potential collaboration opportunities."

"AstraZeneca is excited about the prospects of this collaboration with ADDC to encourage truly innovative scientific thinking. Collaboration and scientific exchange are at the heart of AstraZeneca's innovation-led strategy. Projects like this, which combine the best minds of the global pharmaceutical research community, can only help in the discovery of better medicines, vetted and brought to market quicker." said Steve Rees, VP Screening Sciences and Sample Management, AstraZeneca

Additional information on this project, eligibility requirements, and the Call for Proposals can be found at http://www.addconsortium.org.  Proposals are due August 1, 2014.  Proposals selected by the Technical Review Committee will be announced in Fall 2014. 

About the Academic Drug Discovery Consortium
ADDC is growing international consortium established in 2012, which currently comprises over 100 university-led drug discovery centers and over 1000 individual members from 35 countries.  The ADDC mission is to nurture academic drug discovery centers in the rapidly changing environment and build a collaborative network to facilitate the exchange of expertise and technology know-how, and the formation of partnerships between each other and pharmaceutical industry. For more information, visit www.addconsortium.org

About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, inflammation, autoimmune, oncology, infection and neuroscience diseases. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide. For more information please visit: www.astrazeneca.com

Contact:
Aditya Polsani
Academic Drug Discovery Consortium
[email protected]
Phone: 410-599-3071

SOURCE Academic Drug Discovery Consortium