Uni of Exeter partners with MDC to accelerate academic medicines research

The University of Exeter and Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) have partnered to accelerate medicines research and development to maximise the impact and value of basic medical research.

The partnership will combine Uni of Exeter’s leading research with MDC’s industry skills, discovery platforms, data technologies and access to its national networks, with the aim of ensuring that promising innovations are identified and packaged so that industry and funders can adopt them.

The broad activities of focus for the partnership includes identifying research that can be supported in the earliest stages; developing innovations into an independently validated proposition to allow investors/pharma partners to join projects; embedding industry standard drug discovery and knowledge at the ‘point of ideation and identifying and developing new mechanisms to sustain the development of medicines.

The collaboration between the Uni of Exeter and MDC was enabled by by Dr. Jehangir Cama, David Whitehouse and Professor Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova, members of the Wellcome Trust funded ‘Translational Research Exchange @ Exeter’ (TREE).

“This exciting partnership offers much for both parties.  It will enable our researchers to take their novel ideas beyond the stage where academic inspiration transitions into translational applications. For Medicines Discovery Catapult, we hope this will deepen the well of creative ideas that their expertise can support,” said Professor Neil Gow, deputy vice-chancellor, research and impact, Uni of Exeter.

“This shared-skills, co-operative approach tackles a deep structural issue head on and ensures the best ideas see the light of day at pace and scale for the benefit of patients and the UK economy,” commented Professor Chris Molloy, chief executive officer of MDC.

“Access to our skills, technology and networks at a critical stage of medicines discovery means we and the University of Exeter can develop future medicines as well as future wealth creating academic translators,” he added.