Gladstone often teams with industry partners to convert results of research discoveries into potential therapies for patients. Such collaborations give pharmaceutical or biotech partners access to new knowledge of disease biology and new technologies that may help with the prevention, treatment and cure of cardiovascular, viral and neurological diseases.
In 2012, Gladstone and Takeda entered into a research collaboration with a focus on neurological diseases. Gladstone has developed proprietary genetically modified mouse models that mimic key aspects of certain neurodegenerative diseases. These models are ideally suited to evaluate compounds―with the hope of identifying promising drug candidates that will ultimately provide benefit to patients with neurological disorders.
Gladstone partnered with Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2011 to identify biological targets for new drugs that affect a protein called tau. Several lines of evidence suggest that tau contributes to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. By identifying targets that can prevent or reverse the disease-causing properties of tau, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gladstone hope to identify new therapeutic strategies to alleviate the suffering of millions of Alzheimer’s patients and their families around the world.
The previous year, Gladstone began a collaborative research agreement with the international pharmaceutical firm H. Lundbeck A/S, to study and identify drug candidates for neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Lundbeck’s expertise in drug development for central nervous system disorders is an excellent complement for Gladstone’s knowledge of microscopic imaging techniques, biological targets for new drugs and the origins of neurological disease.