25th Mar 2015 12:44
LONDON (Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC on Wednesday said it has signed a five-year collaboration deal with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, through which the pair will investigate adapting a technique which will create human beta cells from stem cells to be used in finding treatments for diabetes.
Under the deal, AstraZeneca will provide funding for a team of investigators at Harvard and will establish an in-house team in Sweden which will work on the collaboration.
"We are excited about the potential of this latest collaboration with Harvard University. Professor Melton?s group has made an extraordinary breakthrough in the differentiation of human stem cells into human beta cells and our scientists are extremely excited to be working alongside his team," said Marcus Schindler, Head of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases, Innovative Medicines and Early Development at AstraZeneca.
"Harnessing this new technology has the potential to transform the research and development of new treatments for patients with diabetes," Schindler added.
Shares in AstraZeneca were down 0.5% to 4,808.5 pence on Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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