£2.7 M generated by the Drug Discovery Unit

28 August 2017

The Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) in the School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee  has generated £2.7 million income to the University from industrial collaborations for their high quality therapeutic projects where there is a clinical unmet need. This has been from progress in the derisking of novel potential drug targets with the aim of developing new, innovative treatments for disease, through its Innovative Targets Portfolio Programme.

The strength of the DDU in this area allows projects that are traditionally perceived to be risky or difficult due to a lack of knowledge about the targets to be taken on. This approach has helped to create a number of new companies and licencing opportunities with pharma companies.

Professor Paul Wyatt, Head of the Drug Discovery Unit said “The DDU is delighted to generate income for the University through the excellent outputs from the Innovative Targets Portfolio and its more commercially minded projects, in recognition of the very substantial support we have benefited from over the past 11 years.”

About the Drug Discovery Unit

The Dundee Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) was founded in 2006 with the aim of translating basic science into lead compounds to validate putative drug targets, to use as tools to investigate disease pathways and, when appropriate, advance to pre-clinical drug candidates. The DDU works to Biotech style philosophy and standards incorporating, dynamic, goal driven Project Management based on Target Product Profiles and Compound Selection Criteria. The DDU has two major research focuses:

• neglected tropical diseases
• innovative targets and pathways