1 February 2018 - - Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based pharmaceutical business Eisai Inc. has formed a research collaboration with Boston, Massachusetts-based academic medical center Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) to study the effects of Alzheimer's disease-associated genetic variants on the behavior of brain cells, called microglia, the company said.
Under the two-year agreement, Eisai's immuno-dementia discovery research team at its Andover Innovative Medicines (AiM) institute will work with principal investigator Tsuneya Ikezu, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine to study the functional impact of AD-associated genetic variants on microglial biology.
Ikezu's lab has extensive experience in the cell biology of microglia, and has studied how the innate aspect of the central nervous system influences the pathology and progression of neurodegenerative disease.
Utilizing information attained from the study, the parties hope to develop tools for understanding microglial biology and dissect the functional impact of microglially expressed proteins. Such discoveries may accelerate innovative therapeutic drug development for AD.
Eisai Inc., the US pharmaceutical subsidiary of Tokyo-based Eisai Co., Ltd., operates in two global business groups: oncology and neurology (dementia-related diseases and neurodegenerative diseases). Each group functions as an end-to-end global business with discovery, development, and marketing capabilities.
The AiM Institute, located within the greater Boston biotech hub, is a dedicated R and D discovery innovation unit of over 90 scientists focused on delivering novel and targeted therapeutics that are validated by human genetics and related human biology data.
AiM brings extensive expertise in innate immunity, complex synthetic chemistry, and an emphasis on integrated genomics and data science in its efforts to develop compounds targeting immune mechanisms in dementia.
Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) is an academic medical center with an enrollment of more than 700 medical students and 950 students pursuing degrees in graduate medical sciences.
BUSM faculty contribute to more than 668 active grants and contracts, with total anticipated awards valued at more than USD 693m in amyloidosis, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, cancer, infectious diseases, pulmonary disease and dermatology, among other areas.