Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), Vanderbilt University and Japan-based Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have expanded a drug discovery agreement initiated in 2015 that will now run through 2019.
Vanderbilt’s participation is led by Craig Lindsley, Ph.D., professor of Pharmacology and William K. Warren Jr. Professor of Medicine, and Jerod Denton, Ph.D., M.S., associate professor of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology.
“The initial goal of the collaboration was to develop in vivo proof of concept compounds for several early programs in parallel,” said Lindsley. “That effort proved very productive and successful, leading to the new expanded collaboration, in which not only new tool compounds will be created, but also existing tool compounds will be modified for future clinical candidates in collaboration with Ono.”
The project will build on Lindsley’s experience in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery and Denton’s previous work on the biology of potassium channels. The collaboration’s starting point was the identification by Ono of certain compounds that have potential applicability to conditions such as pain, kidney disease and metabolic diseases.
Since the conception of the collaboration in 2012, visiting Ono scientists have worked in the laboratories of Lindsley and Denton.
Tracing its history to an apothecary established in 1717 in Osaka, Japan, Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. today has research alliances around the globe as it celebrates its 300th anniversary.
