Sanford-Burnham and Daiichi Sankyo collaborate on novel cardiovascular-metabolic diseases drug targets

USA-based Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and Japanese drug major Daiichi Sankyo (TYO: 4568) have entered into a three-year comprehensive alliance to develop first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular-metabolic diseases.

The collaboration is built on an open-innovation model to bridge the gap between target discovery and pre-clinical drug development. Financial terms of the accord were not disclosed.

This collaboration focuses on identifying, validating, and screening novel drug targets, and studying new mechanisms of disease. The Sanford-Burnham team will identify and validate targets in collaboration with Cardiovascular-Metabolics Research Laboratories at Daiichi Sankyo. After the validation of the targets, collaboration teams will conduct drug screening to identify compounds that modulate the targets using facilities at both sites.