Sanofi-aventis enters into a research and development collaboration with UCSF
Sanofi-aventis and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have formed two research and development collaborations that join together leaders from academia and industry to more rapidly advance groundbreaking innovation from the lab to the patient. The first is an oncology partnership that will focus on project-based collaboration to accelerate research progress through the clinical proof of concept stage. The second collaboration promotes innovative research in pharmacological science and in multiple therapeutic areas, such as oncology, aging, diabetes and inflammation.
Sanofi-aventis will be the first industry partner for UCSF's Program for Breakthrough Biomedical Research (PBBR). The PBBR program awards funding to projects of potentially high impact and greater creativity, which offer an innovative approach to scientific discovery. The partnership with UCSF enhances sanofi-aventis' approach of setting up a unique structure revolving around networks of creativity spread across regions, technologies and scientific areas of excellence.
Under the terms of the agreement, a UCSF/sanofi-aventis Joint Steering Committee will choose from among UCSF-generated proposals identified for their scientific excellence. Sanofi-aventis will fund up to five grants a year, making additional funds available for student or fellow interns at sanofi-aventis to conduct collaborative research. To further this exchange of ideas, sanofi-aventis will fund an annual research forum bringing together sanofi-aventis and UCSF researchers to share knowledge and perspectives on relevant scientific matters and to review progress of research projects funded through the collaboration.
"As the largest public biomedical research institution in America, UCSF is dedicated to accelerating the translation of leading-edge research into state-of-the-art care for patients," said UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH. "This collaboration will help support ground-breaking projects that could offer the greatest possibilities in each of these fields."
"Joining forces with UCSF researchers emphasizes sanofi-aventis' commitment to establish strong relationships and collaborations with the best innovators in the world," said Christopher A. Viehbacher, Chief Executive Officer, sanofi-aventis. "By promoting open and deep scientific exchange between UCSF's leading researchers and sanofi-aventis' drug development experts, we aim to generate significant healthcare advances in multiple therapeutic areas, to discover and develop comprehensive healthcare solutions for patients."
Provided by University of California - San Francisco
