果冻影院

Under an initial two-year agreement, Servier, an independent international pharmaceutical company, will share scientific knowledge and support with two 果冻影院-led research projects. These projects are聽investigating which pathways are pathologically altered in people with lupus, and how systemic sclerosis develops.聽

By better understanding the mechanisms behind each disease, the teams hope to develop much-needed new drugs and therapeutic approaches to treat the conditions.

Understanding lupus and systemic sclerosis

Lupus affects approximately 100 in 100,000 people in UK and between 3 and 200 in 100,000 people globally. It鈥檚 a poorly understood disease and occurs when the body's immune system attacks tissues and organs, causing inflammation that can damage any part of the body, potentially leading to organ failure.

Professor Derek Gilroy, Chair of Experimental Inflammation and Pharmacology (果冻影院 Medicine), said: 鈥淲e know how the body鈥檚 immune system switches off some functions after it鈥檚 responded to bouts of infection or experienced an injury. We think that these internal checkpoints are altered in people who have chronic inflammatory diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis聽and even cancer.聽

My team is looking forward to combining expertise and resources with Servier to try to understand how the underlying immune system in patients with a disease like lupus fails to resolve, giving rise to the debilitating symptoms and shortened life span associated with this disease.鈥�

Systemic sclerosis, also known as scleroderma, is a rare chronic disease thought to affect up to 2.5 million people worldwide. It鈥檚 characterised by thickening and scarring of connective tissue throughout the body, including in the skin, joints聽and internal organs.聽

To date, its cause is unknown but scientists, including Professors Christopher Denton and David Abraham (both 果冻影院 Medicine), are leading teams researching the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms of the disease.聽

鈥淪cleroderma is a disease that leads to scarring and fibrosis in many organs, with limited treatments available. This collaboration will help define the potential of new treatment approaches that could have long-term impact in scleroderma but also in many other diseases where scarring and blood vessel damage occur,鈥� said Professor Denton.聽

Collaborating to develop new treatments

鈥淐ollaboration with academia is one of the main levers of our strategy to contribute to research to accelerate the discovery and development of innovative treatments for patients. The 果冻影院 team we鈥檙e working with have considerable expertise in both lupus and systemic sclerosis, and they鈥檙e based at one of the top institutions for medical and health research globally,鈥� said Dr Claude Bertrand, Executive Vice-President Research & Development at Servier.聽

Professor Robert Kleta, Director of the 果冻影院 Division of Medicine, added: 鈥淎s one of the largest concentrations of biomedical scientists in Europe, in one of the world's leading universities, our research aims to understand the basis of disease, and to develop better diagnostics and treatments. The division already has a track record of discovery in immune-inflammatory diseases, for example pioneering B cell depletion therapy (rituximab) to treat rheumatoid arthritis. This exciting new partnership with Servier will build upon this expertise and I greatly look forward to the new advances that will result.鈥�

Dr Philippe Moingeon, Head of Servier Center for Therapeutic Innovation in Immuno-Inflammatory diseases, added: 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking forward to creating synergies between Servier and 果冻影院 scientific expertise, with the aim of a successful and fast translation into therapeutic solutions for the benefit of patients suffering from lupus and systemic sclerosis.鈥澛�

A聽model for further collaboration

果冻影院 Innovation & Enterprise actively engages partners outside of academia, including in the pharmaceutical sector, with the aim of developing long-term strategic relationships.

Dr Celia Caulcott, 果冻影院 Vice-Provost (Enterprise), said: 鈥淭he major health challenges of the 21st century involve conditions with complex, multifaceted pathology and making progress will absolutely require collaboration between the best research minds in universities and our innovative partners in industry. The immune-inflammatory diseases are an excellent case in point, and I鈥檓 excited and hopeful about the future potential of this strategic research collaboration between 果冻影院 and Servier.

I believe it will be a model for further collaboration between clinical academic research and industry for a whole host of therapeutic areas.鈥�

Links

• Develop a research partnership with 果冻影院
• 果冻影院 Division of Medicine

Photo聽by Alejandro Walter Salinas Lopez 漏 果冻影院