IMED Biotech Unit
Collaboration Update
Pharmaron and AstraZeneca:
Working side by side to
accelerate drug discovery
“
A strategic partnership is about a developing business
relationship and a true collaboration. In the case of
AstraZeneca, our relationship has developed far beyond that.”
“We see this as a tremendous opportunity for us to be part of
AstraZeneca’s success. We jointly renamed our collaboration
as an ‘Enterprise Partnership’ – true success sharing.
We value the level of integration and depth of the
collaboration. Our scientists enjoy working closely with
AstraZeneca scientists and leaders as One Laboratory.
“
Katherine Lee, Pharmaron Senior VP,
Strategic Partnership
Since June 2012, AstraZeneca has established a partnership to deliver a
significant amount of our drug discovery work through collaboration with
Pharmaron, a leading R&D service provider based in China. Pharmaron
works closely with our teams to deliver discovery services in chemistry, as
well as in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK). The partnership
creates flexibility for us to cope more effectively with demand fluctuations
in our discovery portfolio. It also increases chemistry resources to projects,
enabling the development of higher quality compounds with the best chance
of success. At the same time, it frees up valuable time for our experienced
scientists to focus more on problem-solving and innovation. Our shared hope
is that this will speed up the discovery of novel medicines that meet unmet
patient needs.
Several hundred Pharmaron scientists work with AstraZeneca in
dedicated, state-of-the-art research laboratories located in Beijing
– the largest single group of external scientists we partner with in
China. Pharmaron have the scientific talent and capabilities, the
capacity and the right cultural fit to help us push the boundaries
of scientific innovation.
Collaboration
in practice
Pharmaron chemists are integrated
into every AstraZeneca project. This
ensures that synthetic know-how
is retained within our company and
allows the team leader to deploy
resources in the most effective way.
The majority of Discovery in vitro
DMPK screening is also now provided
by Pharmaron. Establishing this
large panel of validated assays has
required strong collaboration by many
DMPK scientists in the Drug Safety
& Metabolism function. The DMPK
relationship has been led by Claire
Landqvist from Mölndal, Sweden
and together with the AstraZeneca
Compound Management team, they
have optimised the complex logistics
of shipping compounds to Beijing from
the three AstraZeneca hub sites in
the US, UK and Sweden. As a result,
DMPK data is now routinely delivered
to projects in an effective and timely
manner.
Key to this success is the commitment
and enthusiasm of everybody involved,
and their determination to make the
collaboration work. Communication
between the two organisations occurs
on many levels. There is daily scientific
Making great progress
The team has made great advances in terms of creativity and problem
solving. This is evidenced by the first joint AstraZeneca/Pharmaron
publication, which was published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
from the GPR103 project in Mölndal, Sweden. Also, in our regular
bi-monthly internal Chemistry Abstracts publication, we now see
roughly equal contributions from AstraZeneca and Pharmaron. In
addition, we have seen continued strong productivity and increased
diversity of the chemistry being conducted in China.
dialogue between chemists in both
companies and our scientists take
every opportunity to give lectures and
provide coaching where needed but
also encouraging Pharmaron scientists
to work independently.
What’s special about the collaboration?
AstraZeneca perspective: “This collaboration goes beyond what we
normally expect from a service partner,” says Garry Pairaudeau, Head
of AstraZeneca’s Research Outsourcing Office. “They are continually
willing to go the extra mile. By building a collaborative partnership
based on high levels of engagement from all the AstraZeneca
scientists involved and a genuine commitment from our partner, we
have demonstrated that external partnering for Chemistry and DMPK
can be effective.”
Pharmaron perspective: “We’re very happy with this collaboration
and see it as a true partnership. Appointing Pharmaron as sole
partner for this work is a huge commitment from AstraZeneca, but
it’s also a huge commitment from us, in terms of providing the right
infrastructure, resources and new technology. Seeing our growth as
being linked to AstraZeneca’s growth is an important way of thinking”
says Yonghua Gai, Pharmaron’s VP Medicinal Chemistry.
“AstraZeneca is different to Pharmaron’s other partners.
We welcome the open and honest communication and sharing
of information on the progress of projects. We also find it really
motivating to think about the direct link between innovative
drug discovery and benefits for patients.”
Progress to date includes continued
strong productivity and increased
diversity of the chemistry being
conducted in China as well as improved
creativity and problem solving.The
first joint AstraZeneca/Pharmaron
publication was published in the
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry from
the GPR103 project in Mölndal, Sweden
and in the regular bi-monthly internal
Chemistry Abstracts publication we now
see roughly equal contributions from
AstraZeneca and Pharmaron.