AstraZeneca undertakes kidney disease collaborations with University of Michigan and Inserm

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) has undertaken collaborations with the University of Michigan and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), both on kidney disease.

The collaboration with the University of Michigan will span two years, and plans to advance the treatment of chronic kidney disease, focusing on the use of patient tissue and validation of preclinical models. AstraZeneca’s scientists in Mölndal, Sweden, will work with a team of investigators at the University of Michigan to examine databases of biopsies to identify biological targets and pathways which predict disease progression, create improved animal models that better reflect the human disease condition, and identify biomarkers in patient samples associated with progression and response to treatment.

Marcus Schindler, head of the cardiovascular and metabolic diseases innovative medicines unit at AstraZeneca, said: “Current approaches to treating the complications of diabetes mean that patients need expensive treatment options which are often limited, so there is a significant unmet medical need. Through this collaboration, we will generate increasing evidence that we are pursuing the right therapeutic targets to treat CKD which will shift clinical therapy to a more focused patient population, giving a better response to treatments and slowing disease progression.”