Takeda, UK’s QMUL partner to develop new therapies for gastrointestinal diseases

The research alliance will focus on GI sensory and motor mechanisms underlying functional bowel disorders and GI motility disorders.

The University’s Neurogastroenterology Group aims to understand the neuromuscular control of GI function, with an emphasis on brain-gut interactions and GI motility.

In addition to leveraging best science from both parties, the partnership will use the University’s School of Medicine and Dentistry that has translational research facilities and expertise in gastroenterology to help accelerate drug discovery and development of new therapeutics.

Takeda GI Drug Discovery Unit head Gareth Hicks said: "Takeda’s GI Drug Discovery Unit is a highly specialized research team that works collaboratively with academic and industry partners, as well as other Takeda teams, in a research approach that seeks and partners with the deepest scientific expertise in the gastroenterology field, wherever it may be.

"This agile approach maximizes our chances of succeeding in our mission to provide new medicines for the treatment of GI disorders in patients with high unmet medical need.

"We are excited to work with researchers at QMUL, who have a proven track record for collaborative delivery of deep scientific insight into GI disease mechanisms."

As part of the deal, Takeda’s GI Drug Discovery Unit will work closely with experts from the School of Medicine and Dentistry’s Neurogastroenterology and Immunology groups on several areas of research.

Those areas include discovering new therapeutic targets and research the effect of compounds with new mechanisms of action in established QMUL translational assays.

The three-year research program will see collaboration of QMUL researchers Professors Gareth Sanger and Ashley Blackshaw, Dr David Bulmer and Dr Andrew Stagg.

Image: Takeda Midosuji Building, the head office of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, in Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan. Photo:courtesy of J o.