Hamburg: Inims and Merck Serono to collaborate in drug discovery for neurological diseases

The Institute of Neuroimmunology and Clinical Multiple Sclerosis Research (inims) of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) declares a collaboration with Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, for a joint drug discovery project. The collaboration is conducted within the “NEU² consortium” which is funded proportionally in the frame of the BioPharma initiative by The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung – BMBF).

The objective of the cooperation is the identification and pre-clinical development of a small molecular drug candidate for an undisclosed neurological target. The inims will primarily contribute its expertise in mechanistic studies; the European Screening Port (ESP), another partner of the NEU² consortium, will support the drug discovery project using its innovative technology platform.

Prof. Dr. Roland Martin, head of the inims, about the cooperation: “This interdisciplinary collaboration shows that by bundling the competencies within the NEU² consortium a rapid transfer of preclinical research results into clinical developments can be achieved. We are glad to be part of this consortium and feel confident that our approach of a translational medical research will be the right track.”