K U Leuven and EIF invest €16m in CD3
Will enable CD3 to support further new drug development
The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) in Belgium and the European Investment Fund (EIF) are investing an additional €16m in the Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3).
CD3 was set up in October 2006 by KUL Research & Development with a starting capital of €8m. The organisation bridges the gap between academic research and the pharmaceutical industry, promoting the discovery and development of innovative medicines for all kinds of diseases. By providing the necessary expertise and financial resources, CD3 ensures that fundamental biomedical research carried out by universities and small biotech companies is translated into more usable results and promising molecules for new medicines. Pharmaceutical companies can then further develop these potential medicines, or they can form the basis for new spin-off companies.
‘In the past four years, together with its partners, CD3 has taken the initial steps in more than 15 projects to develop potential new medicines for various disorders, such as AIDS, cancer, arthritis, asthma, Dengue virus infections and Alzheimer’s disease,’ said Patrick Chaltin, managing director of CD3.
‘This €16m capital increase will also allow us to expand our activities outside of K U Leuven,’ added Paul Van Dun, general manager of KUL Research & Development.
EIF says the decision to offer this new funding is based on CD3’s successes of the past four years, as well as on a growing need for an investment fund in the life sciences.
‘Our investment in this initiative demonstrates our commitment to setting up long-term partnerships with first-class academic institutions and research centres,’ said Richard Pelly, chief executive of the EIF.
‘The partnership which we created between the EIF and KUL in 2006 has achieved very promising results so far. We are convinced that stepping up our financial support as well as providing tailored financial engineering solutions will help to further bridge the gap between research and the market.’
