Apollo Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, and the University of Oxford have signed a drug discovery and development deal designed to commercialise breakthroughs made by the biomedical researchers at Oxford.
The agreement means that Apollo will identify and assess therapeutic targets proposed by Oxford's researchers for their commercialisation potential, while Oxford's research teams will be able to access Apollo's therapeutic development knowledge, as well as programme funding.
Accelerating the path of potential therapeutics to market
According to Apollo, the partnership will provide more access to clinical trials for patients, while also expediting the journey to market of the potential therapeutics discovered by Oxford researchers.
Apollo's drug discovery specialists will assess the ability of the discovered molecules to become standard of care treatments in disease areas such as oncology, immunology and inflammation.
Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, said: "We want to harness life sciences to transform the UK’s healthcare and drive economic growth. Together, Apollo and Oxford University could deliver new medicines to help us tackle cancer, autoimmune disease, and more, improving and saving thousands of lives,"
"The life sciences sector is open for business under this Government. We know that the best and boldest breakthroughs happen when industry and academia join forces, backed by government, and this partnership between Apollo and Oxford is proof of exactly what can be unlocked, when we open the doors to collaboration."
Bolstering industry and academic collaborations
This latest collaboration is Apollo's sixth agreement with an academic research centre, with previously signed institutions including the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London, King's College London and the Institute of Cancer Research.
CEO of Apollo Therapeutics, Richard Mason, commented: "At Apollo Therapeutics we are ambitious in our mission to translate important new research discoveries into valuable new drugs. We are therefore delighted to be collaborating with the University of Oxford, a university that is consistently at the top of global rankings for scientific research and innovation. We are now working together with six of the world’s top universities and research centres to transform the standard of care in major commercial markets based on breakthroughs in biology and basic medical research made by scientists at these institutions.'