The Institut de la Vision and Iris Pharma strengthen bond between industry and academia
The Institut de la Vision, a French research centre dedicated to eye diseases, has joined forces with clinical research organisation Iris Pharma with the aim of encouraging industrial/academic co-operation, developing research programmes and adapting certain specific procedures to the industrial field.
The Institut de la Vision, a French research centre dedicated to eye diseases, has joined forces with clinical research organisation Iris Pharma with the aim of encouraging industrial/academic co-operation, developing research programmes and adapting certain specific procedures to the industrial field.
Since it opened in March 2008, the Institut has attracted a large number of industrialists looking to test the therapeutic effectiveness of their molecules intended to fight blindness. Iris Pharma has close to 20 years of experience in ophthalmology and knowledge of all the stages involved in developing eye medication.
In the context of the joint co-operation, Iris Pharma's main task will be to act as a link between the academic and industrial sectors to implement new industrial partnerships and reinforce the continuum from the stage of the underlying research through to treatment of visually impaired patients.
In the second phase, Iris Pharma will develop research programmes in collaboration with the Institut de la Vision, mainly for the purpose of offering new services and industrial innovations to its clients.
"Iris Pharma found it natural to become involved in a project of such scope and so promising in terms of research and advances in eye diseases," said Dr Pierre-Paul Elena, ceo and founder of Iris Pharma. "It was natural for our company - a specialist in preclinical studies and clinical trials in ophthalmology - to become one of the Institut de la Vision's preferred partners."
"Concluding industrial partnerships is essential for discoveries made in academic research to rapidly give rise to available treatments for patients," added Professor Sahel, director of the Institut.
Iris Pharma will have its own premises in the Institut de la Vision building. Dr Mustapha Benchaboune, medical director of Iris Pharma and a retinal pathology specialist, will be the CRO's local representative with the Institut de la Vision.
The company will participate in the Steering Committee that will define the strategic directions of this co-operation to identify the mutual research programmes to be developed and to suggest and design service provision offers adapted to the expectations of the ophthalmology market.