AstraZeneca in academia deal, joining forces with MRC Technology for discovery research, utilizing shared compound libraries

AstraZeneca is the latest in a string of drug majors to join forces with academia to bolster its R&D pipeline in the face of patent expiries on blockbuster drugs. The UK-headquartered firm has entered a new strategic collaboration with MRC Technology, the commercialization arm of the UK's Medical Research Council, to share access to their collections of compounds to aid the search for potential new treatments for serious diseases. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The companies will combine up to 100,000 compounds from AstraZeneca's collection with the MRC Technology compound library of approximately 50,000 compounds. The latter will screen this larger combined library searching for compounds that show activity against novel biological targets. A joint steering committee will review these hits, and decide how to advance promising compounds that could become innovative medicines.

AstraZeneca and MRC Technology will retain ownership of their respective compounds. Individual projects chosen to go forward would trigger option fees and the parties would negotiate further research and license agreements.