UCL and Eisai have entered a drug discovery and development collaboration to investigate new ways of treating neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other related disorders. The goal of the collaboration is to identify and validate novel drug targets, develop new therapeutics and evaluate them in proof-of-concept trials. 
 
UCL and Eisai will form a Therapeutic Innovation Group (TIG) comprised of scientists from both companies to facilitate the discovery and assessment of emerging therapeutic targets. The TIG will also be responsible for the co-development of new research areas of interest. A Joint Steering Committee (JSC) will be established and will be co-chaired by UCL’s professor Alan Thompson and Eisai’s Neuroscience Unit president, Dr. Lynn Kramer.
 
Dr. Kramer commented, “Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease represent a significant unmet medical need due to lack of effective treatments that can prevent disease progression. UCL’s is a world-class academic institution with specialized research capabilities and we expect this exciting partnership to be very successful. In this unique collaboration, we hope our complementary expertise will identify potential new drug targets that we can bring to market and make available to patients that need it the most.”