AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) has signed a research deal with Vanderbilt University to identify potential treatments for psychosis and other psychiatric symptoms associated with diseases like Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia. The UK-based drug giant’s Neuroscience Innovative Medicines Unit headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. and Cambridge, England, has exclusively licensed rights to compounds developed by the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (VCNDD) that act on a certain brain receptor. Vanderbilt will receive an upfront payment research funding for two years as well as milestone payments and sales royalties of any drugs that are approved, but the dollar figure of the deal was not disclosed. “AstraZeneca is interested in pursuing research collaborations across all areas of neuroscience research where the science is compelling,” Dr. Mike Poole, vice president of the AstraZeneca Neuroscience Innovative Medicines Unit, said in a statement. “We believe that combining AstraZeneca’s deep experience in drug development and translational science with VCNDD’s expertise in drug discovery is an important step toward bringing new medicines forward for people who are suffering from neurodegenerative diseases.”
