Roche, Canadian Not-for-Profit to Partner on New Drugs

(Research.gov)

The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) in Vancouver, Canada and Swiss pharmaceutical maker F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. have agreed to collaborate on development and commercialization of new drug therapies. The exact therapies are yet to be defined, according to the announcement, but will be “for the treatment of diseases with high unmet medical needs.”

CDRD is a national not-for-profit organization that provides drug development expertise and infrastructure for researchers from some 20 Canadian academic and health research institutions to advance early-stage drug candidates. Under the agreement, Roche and CDRD will jointly select the projects. They will then determine the most appropriate development paths for the intellectual property associated with the projects, and assess opportunities for their collaboration, funding, management, and commercialization.

Roche will provide CDRD’s commercial arm, CDRD Ventures Inc., with “several million dollars” of capital — an exact amount was not disclosed — and outside expertise to support Canadian health researchers in the development of the agreed-upon therapeutics. At the same time, CDRD will provide Roche with access to Canada’s leading health research discoveries, and further build the company’s product pipeline.

“This is the first industry investment into CDRD’s commercial arm which will allow us to successfully address the commercialization gap between academia and the private sector,” says Natalie Dakers, president of CDRD, “and in doing so, bring new therapeutics to the patients who need them.”

Read more: Roche to Build Canadian Pharmaceutical Development Center

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