Elan links with Cambridge University for neurological drug research

Ireland-based neuroscience focused biotechnology company Elan Corp (NYSE: ELN) and the UK’s University of Cambridge have announced plans to create The Cambridge-Elan Center for Research Innovation. Elan will invest $10 million over the first five years of the initial 10-year collaboration.

“This agreement is a natural next step in the existing working relationship between our scientists in South San Francisco and scientists at the University of Cambridge,” said Dale Schenk, executive vice president and chief scientific officer at Elan. “This collaborative effort complements our portfolio of programs in neuroscience and supports the process of discovery which we believe may lead to a class of therapeutics that no one has thought possible before,” Dr Schenk noted.

The center will be based at Cambridge University’s Department of Chemistry and will focus on innovative therapies for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The aim of the research is to find new therapies which are able to interrupt the process which leads to the production and accumulation of a toxic protein, beta amyloid, in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. The process by which this protein is generated, aggregates and is ultimately deposited in the brain as plaque is often referred to as the beta amyloid cascade. The formation of beta amyloid plaques is the hallmark pathology of Alzheimer’s disease.