Diabetes care specialist Novo Nordisk of Denmark has opened a new inflammation research centre in Seattle, US.
The research centre will leverage Novo Nordisk's expertise in proteins in order to build the company's clinical pipeline of products for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. Novo Nordisk currently has four projects in early clinical development within the field of inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.
"Seattle is a biotech centre of excellence, and placing our inflammation research centre here allows us to attract top scientists and collaborate with high quality partners," said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, Novo Nordisk's chief science officer. "By investing in early stage research we hope to find the underlying causes for different inflammatory conditions and develop new treatments for these diseases."
Don Foster, vice president of inflammation, will lead the management team at the research centre. It will employ 60 people by the end of 2010 and research activities there will complement continuing biopharmaceutical research activities in Novo Nordisk's research sites in Malov, Denmark and in Beijing, China.