Crown Bioscience, a global drug discovery and development services company providing translational platforms to advance oncology, inflammation, cardiovascular and metabolic disease research has announced a licensing agreement with Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.’s Research Models and Services business.
The agreement, designed to expand access to CrownBio’s ZDSD (Zucker Diabetic Sprague-Dawley) rat provides Charles River, a specialist in research model distribution, an exclusive license to breed and distribute the ZDSD model. The agreement also guarantees CrownBio with a premium quality and prioritised supply of ZDSD models to support their global service platforms. Charles River’s commercial distribution of the model is expected to begin by mid-summer 2019.
The ZDSD rat is a highly translatable rodent model of metabolic syndrome, obesity, dyslipidemia, and diabetes with complications such as cardiac dysfunction, proteinuria and impaired wound healing. It has a polygenic background and intact leptin pathway. The ZDSD rat more closely mimics human disease development. Unlike some other rat models of metabolic disease, it does not rely on monogenic leptin or leptin receptor mutations for development of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Proprietary to CrownBio, the ZDSD rat was developed by crossing the ZDF rat (Lean +/+) with the CD (SD) rat and selectively inbred for obesity and diabetes traits for more than 35 generations. It has also been characterised as a novel model of diabetic nephropathy.
“The ZDSD rat has proven to be a leading translational model for obesity, diabetes and metabolic disease with complications. I am confident that this exciting agreement with Charles River will extend the reach of this model,” said Dr Jim Wang, Senior Vice President of CrownBio’s Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease division.