£4.6m research collaboration with Lilly

Scientists in a pharmaceutical laboratory [Photo: Shutterstock]

UofG has entered into a research collaboration with pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company that aims to discover and validate the next generation of drug targets for immunological diseases.

The £4.6 million research collaboration, due to last four years, will work across four diseases – psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibrosis and vasculitis – and will be led by our Institute of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation.

The collaboration will allow scientists from UofG and Lilly to work together in order to drive the research forward, a move researchers hope will help enable the identification of first-in-class therapeutics for people suffering with these devastating and costly conditions.

The UofG team is led by Carl Goodyear, Professor of Translational Immunology: “This is a highly unique collaboration that is aimed at harnessing not only cross-disease comparison but also intra-disease pathological comparison across different affected tissues. By providing this disease and tissue contextualisation, it will enable the identification and validation of unique therapeutic targets.”

“Glasgow’s researchers have a vision to drive forward innovation, in order to tackle some of society’s most urgent challenges. The Glasgow-Lilly collaboration is well positioned to be an inspiring example of this vision and of the exciting possibilities of industry and academia working together. I look forward to seeing this important partnership progress, advancing the next generation of “first-in-class” therapeutic agents and their alignment with precision medicine approaches.”
Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli