In an initiative that could signal a new era in private–public partnerships,  AstraZeneca will make 22 compounds available for free to medical researchers  next year for projects funded by the United Kingdom’s (UK) Medical Research  Council (MRC). The collaboration is yet another boost to UK research and  acknowledges the long, complex, and expensive process of drug development by  giving UK researchers access to compounds and funds that will allow studies to  explore new treatment opportunities through better understanding of disease  mechanisms. The MRC, which has fostered 29 Nobel Prize winners, has supported  high-quality science for 100 years and is active several disease areas.

  “Innovative collaborations are playing a crucial role in finding ways to  unlock the potential of new treatments,” said David Brennan, AstraZeneca’s CEO,  in a 

, “The UK has a strong heritage of research excellence in life  sciences. We hope that in sharing these valuable clinical compounds with  academic scientists through the MRC, new discoveries will be made by exploring  additional uses of these compounds.”

  As part of the collaboration, MRC is requesting research proposals from  across the UK. A total of £10 million ($15.6 million) will be awarded to the  projects judged to best use the AstraZeneca-developed compounds. Notably, these  projects must not directly contribute to AstraZeneca’s active programs to  secure the funding.

  “The MRC is delighted to be partnering [with] AstraZeneca in this exciting  new approach towards understanding disease mechanisms in humans and thereby  speeding the development of new treatments,” said Sir John Savill, MRC’s chief executive,  in the press release. “The initiative marks a new era in medical discovery,  open innovation and public-private collaboration.”

  Though IP generated will vary from project to project, AstraZeneca will  retain rights over the chemical composition of the compounds, and academic  institutions will own any new research findings. New research produced by the  collaboration will be made available to the broader scientific community.

News

In an initiative that could signal a new era in private?public partnerships, AstraZeneca will make 22 compounds available for free to medical researchers next year for projects funded by the United Kingdom?s (UK) Medical Research Council (MRC).