Univeristy of Cambridge Joins Open Innovation Platform for Pharmaceutical Research

The University of Cambridge has become the latest academic institution to join pharmaceutical giant Ely Lilly's open innovation drug research and development platform. The renowned college has joined a community of over 60 institutions looking to tackle the challenges of productive pharmaceutical research and development.

One of the US largest pharmaceutical manufacturers, Eli Lilly, established the Open Innovation Drug Discovery Platform (OIDDP) in February 2011 to address the problems that is hampering research into new and improved treatments and medicines. Increasing costs and a lack of resources have limit researchers ability to discover vital compounds and molecules that could prove instrumental on developing new medicine. 

The OIDDP addresses this problem by inviting academic institutions to sign up to the platform and with access Lilly's latest screening and in vitro model systems, challenge them to test various molecules and compounds in the search for innovative pharmaceutical products. 

The access to Lilly’s sophisticated in vitro model systems, as well as the potential for future collaborations and licenses with the goal of discovering new therapeutics, makes these types of initiatives very important. - Emma Barker of Cambridge Enterprise

Ely Lilly's testing and screening systems are world renowned, and researchers will have access to many of them including a phenotypic screening system that simultaneous tests drug compounds activity against both multiple mechanisms and targets. Researchers who wish to submit molecules for testing will be allowed free access to the assays. Academic institutions will retain any intellectual property rights although Eli Lilly will be entitled to negotiate the rights to any molecules discovered.

To date the OIDDP has helped uncover compounds with potential in treating cancer and diabetes, and are currently in the optimisation stage.

Image Credits; Spectacles