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Major Drug Discovery Collaboration between Monash and Servier Laboratories, France
2 Feb 2012
Les Laboratoires Servier, a leading European pharmaceutical company and the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), Monash University, today announced a collaborative agreement for drug discovery and research on G Protein?Coupled Receptors (GPCRs), the largest drug target family in the human genome.
The collaboration will make use of MIPS’ acknowledged world?leading capability in the identification of novel GPCR targets, in the understanding of GPCR functional biology and in the design of new chemical entities to modulate GPCR activity.
Director of MIPS and Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Monash University, Professor Bill Charman, said he was delighted to partner with Servier. “This partnership will advance our research and translate our GPCR?based drug discovery insights to design new therapeutic agents for major human diseases,” Professor Charman said.
The partnership will generate up to 15 full-time staff to work exclusively on collaborative projects and under the terms of the agreement Servier will provide MIPS with annual support for research activities undertaken as part of the collaboration.
The collaboration will initially run for three years with the research program including known and novel GPCR targets, covering various potential therapeutic fields including metabolism, cardiology, neurology and psychiatry, rheumatology, and oncology.
