The Lead Discovery Center is part of a new consortium of eight partners from industry and academia focusing on the development of new diabetes therapies.
February 19, 2019, Dortmund, Germany – The Lead Discovery Center (LDC) is part of a new consortium of eight partners from industry and academia focusing on the development of new diabetes therapies. During the next three years, a new Center of Competence will be established at the German Diabetes Center (DDZ) based on a total funding of about 3.5 Mio Euro provided by Northrhine-Westphalia and the EU. This center is coordinated by DDZ and aims at efficient translation of new research results into clinical application, finally improving therapeutic options for diabetic patients.
The continuous rise in the number of diabetic patients in Germany and the associated socio-economic burden for the health system urgently require the development of new causal therapies. “Together with our partners we aim to establish a sustainable infrastructure, to bring innovative approaches of diabetes therapy rapidly and directly to the patients” explains Prof. Michael Roden, scientific Director of the German Diabetes Center and coordinator of the new Center of Competence for Innovative Diabetes Therapy (KomIT). “Our joint activities aim to bundle expertise, finally leading to scientific and technological break-throughs in diabetes research”. In addition to the LDC and DDZ, the other partners are: Algiax Pharmaceuticals GmbH, Taros Chemicals GmbH & Co. KG, vivo Science GmbH, A & M Labor für Analytik und Metabolismusforschung Service GmbH, PROFIL Institut für Stoffwechselforschung GmbH, and TU Dortmund with the Drug Discovery Hub Dortmund (DDHD).
In Northrhine-Westphalia, excellent basic research in the field of clinical-experimental diabetes studies is conducted for a long time. However, translation of these results into clinical applications is not yet sufficient to generate an economic boost. For start-ups and small companies with high innovation potential it is often not possible to carry out extensive experimental and clinical research with sufficient critical mass. At this point, the new Center of Competence provides strategic support. Leading idea is to build up a sustainable infrastructure that combines expertise from management, medicinal chemistry, preclinical and analytical studies, toxicology and physiology, up to clinical testing.
This novel research infrastructure provides a strong boost for the pharma and biotech sector in Northrhine-Westphalia and supports innovation and competitiveness in NRW. The project is funded within the program “EFRE.NRW - Investitionen in Wachstum und Beschäftigung” supported by NRW and the Europen Union.
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About the LDC
The Lead Discovery Center (LDC) was established in 2008 as a novel approach to capitalize on the potential of excellent basic research for the discovery of new therapies for diseases with high medical need.
The LDC takes on promising early-stage projects from academia and transforms them into innovative pharmaceutical leads that reach initial proof-of-concept in animals. In close collaboration with high-profile partners from academia and industry, the LDC is building a strong and growing portfolio of small molecule leads with exceptional medical and commercial potential.
The LDC sustains a preferred partnership with the Max Planck Society and has formed alliances with AstraZeneca, Apeiron, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo, Grünenthal, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Merck KGaA, Qurient and Sotio as well as various investors and leading translational drug discovery centres around the globe.
>> More information at www.lead-discovery.de
