Prof Will Fuller, Prof Godfrey Smith and Dr Rachel Myles secure beLAB1407 funding for new heart drug.
Published: 30 October 2024
Evotec will support work being undertaken by Professor Will Fuller, Professor Godfrey Smith, Dr Rachel Myles and their team to co-develop small molecules targeting a well validated ion transporter implicated in cardiac arrhythmias.
The University of Glasgow has teamed up with Evotec, a prominent biotech company, to develop a new drug aimed at improving the lives of heart disease patients.
Evotec is supporting the research of Professor Will Fuller, Professor Godfrey Smith, Dr Rachel Myles and their team to co-develop small molecules targeting a specific ion transporter linked to cardiac arrhythmias. This partnership is funded by beLAB1407, a collaborative initiative launched by Evotec and Bristol Myers Squibb to identify and advance new therapeutic targets with the potential for disease-modifying effects, with the aim of fostering the creation of new spinout companies.
This beLAB1407 award to the team is the first of its kind for the University of Glasgow since the program was expanded last year to include additional institutions. beLAB1407 provides a bridge from foundational science to investment-ready, preclinical opportunities.
The team’s research tackles a longstanding challenge in achieving selectivity, which has historically hindered the development of safe and effective drugs for this class of therapeutic targets.
By combining Evotec’s medicinal chemistry expertise with the cardiovascular insights of the Glasgow team, the project aims to produce novel compounds with proof of concept in diverse models.
Professor Fuller, Principal Investigator at the University of Glasgow, said: “This partnership with Evotec is a fantastic opportunity, enabling a major advancement in research we have pursued for many years in my laboratory. Accomplishing this kind of work is often challenging within an academic setting, so we’re thrilled that beLAB1407 funding allows us to collaborate to create a new drug that could transform heart disease treatment.”
Uzma Khan, Vice Principal of Economic Development and Innovation at the University, highlighted the potential impact when Glasgow joined the beLAB1407 consortium last year, stating, “This initiative is a vital addition to Scotland’s biomedical research ecosystem, giving our researchers access to valuable industry expertise and resources that support translating scientific discoveries into investment-ready opportunities for further preclinical and clinical development.”
Launched in 2021 with founding university partners Birmingham, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Nottingham, beLAB1407 was designed to identify groundbreaking drug discovery opportunities across therapeutic areas. Under the expanded agreement, the Universities of Bristol, Glasgow, and Queen Mary University of London now also have access to this support, spanning multiple disease areas and drug development platforms.
First published: 30 October 2024
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