AstraZeneca to build disease research centre in Cambridge
DRUGS giant AstraZeneca and the Medical Research Council will today announced that they are building a new research and development centre in Cambridge, to better understand a range of human diseases.
The centre will be located within the new AstraZeneca site at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, due to be completed in 2016. Under the collaboration, which will run for an initial period of five years, academic researchers will have access to AstraZeneca’s molecule compound library, while the FTSE 100 company will have the first option to license any resulting drug discoveries.
“Through this collaboration AstraZeneca and the MRC will push the boundaries of science to accelerate drug discovery and the development of new medicines here in the UK,” said Menelas Pangalos, executive vice president, innovative medicines and early development at AstraZeneca.
“It is an exciting move that will fast-track research that might not otherwise have been carried out, and will ultimately mean better treatments for patients,” said MRC chief Professor Sir John Savill.