TPP and Dundee University to set up drug development fund
Will support the translation of life sciences research into early phase drug discovery projects
TPP Global Development Ltd (TPP) is to collaborate with the University of Dundee, Scotland to establish a drug development fund.
The Target Development Fund will centre on the University of Dundee’s Drug Development Unit (DDU), which is a leading UK academic centre for drug discovery and development. The fund is also supported by the Scottish Funding Council.
The fund will support the translation of life sciences research into early phase drug discovery and development projects.
The data packages generated around these projects will show the appropriate disease model-based validation, which would make them attractive to potential licensing partners from the pharmaceutical industry.
UK biotechnology firm TPP says it brings scientific and commercialisation expertise, a global network of contacts and the ability to access downstream investment to the fund.
The firm’s core competencies will be combined with DDU’s chemoinformatics modelling and early stage drug discovery expertise and infrastructure.
Professor Mike Ferguson, Dean of Research at the University of Dundee College of Life Sciences said TPP’s experience in translation and commercialisation of early stage research complements the Dundee Drug Discovery Unit’s technical expertise in early stage drug development and discovery.
‘This collaboration will be of enormous value in taking forward the biomedical discoveries made across Scottish Universities and the wider global academic community,’ he said.