NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, Takeda Pharmaceutical, and Florida Hospital announced today a collaboration to discover and evaluate new therapeutics for obesity.
As part of the partnership, genomic and metabolite profiling will be conducted to identify genes, metabolic signatures, and pathways that potentially could be used as biomarkers and novel drug targets for the treatment of obesity, which the partners said afflicts one-third of all Americans, citing statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a statement, Paul Chapman, general manager and head of Takeda's pharmaceutical research division, said that in addition to identifying new targets for obesity, the deal could result in new treatments for other health consequences of obesity, such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and heart disease.
The two-year collaboration, the partners said, "combines laboratory-based assets with in-depth investigation of patient cohorts so that scientists can compare data from experimental models and humans to identify genetic and metabolomic 'matches.'"
Takeda will provide some funding for the deal. No further financial details were disclosed.