UNITED KINGDOM

Global pharma groups reveal tie-up with universities

Three of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical groups have teamed up with a trio of Britain’s top universities to create a £40 million (US$57 million) fund to help turn promising scientific research into new medicines, writes Andrew Ward for Financial Times.

AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline of the UK and Johnson & Johnson of the US will contribute financing and expertise to the collaboration with Cambridge University, Imperial College London and University College London.

The initiative, which is to be called the Apollo Therapeutics Fund, is one of the clearest signs yet of the trend towards greater collaboration among pharma groups and between industry and academia in the search for new drugs.
Full report on Financial Times site