Major drug discovery grant, King's College London

The research will be led by Dr Jonathan Corcoran, Research Fellow in the MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, and builds on the work done by him and Malcolm Maden, Professor of Developmental Biology over the last 10 years. Dr Corcoran’s research has focussed on the role of retinoid signalling, in neurodegeneration including Alzheimer’s disease.

The award will allow preclinical development of promising drug candidates for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. King’s College London is a global leader in research around neurodegenerative diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease in particular. Due to the increase in the aging population, the incidence of this condition will become higher in coming years.

There are very few effective treatments for the disease, and existing drugs only serve to provide short-term alleviation of symptoms. It is hoped the research undertaken during the award will lead to therapeutic compounds with the ability to modify the underlying process of Alzheimer’s disease, and so provide long-term improvements for patients.

Drug Discovery

Dr Corcoran said 'This Wellcome Trust Seeding Drug Discovery award will allow us to push ahead with an exciting prospect for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The substantial support given by the Wellcome Trust will be used in a drug discovery program to develop novel retinoids which will be disease-modifying, in that it they will arrest the actual pathology of the disease, which is in contrast to existing treatments which delay disease progression'.

The research will take place over the next three years in the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases, and will involve collaborations with other research organisations including an extensive medicinal chemistry program. The successful application was supported by King’s College London Business Ltd, who act as co-applicant on the award.

Dr Alison Campbell, Managing Director of King’s Business, noted 'We are delighted that the Wellcome Trust has made this award to Dr Corcoran and King’s College London. We are looking forward to working with Dr Corcoran and the Wellcome Trust to bring the new compounds through development and to a stage where they are ready for clinical trials with a commercial partner'.

Source: By King's College London