On 31 January, Kyoto University and Bayer AG, Germany, entered into an agreement to collaborate on identifying novel drug targets for a pulmonary disease.
The collaboration will center on combining some of the findings made by the Graduate School of Medicine's Assistant Professor Atsuyasu Sato (respiratory organ internal medicine) with the pharmaceutical company's drug discovery expertise, aiming to find new targets for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
Professor Toyohiro Hirai, also of the Graduate School of Medicine, expressed high expectations for the partnership, touting the fact that it paves the way for multiple KyotoU-Bayer projects to combat the lung condition.
The agreement is based on a comprehensive partnership deal that Kyoto's Office of Society-Academia Collaboration for Innovation (SACI) signed with Bayer in 2014. The University has since continued to explore opportunities for collaboration with the German company — with support provided by the KyotoU Medical Science and Business Liaison Organization (KUMBL), a part of the Graduate School of Medicine — culminating in the January 2019 IPF deal.
