Eisai has formed a major alliance with University College London (UCL) to discover and develop treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders.

Researchers from the two organisations will work together to identify new drug targets, develop new therapies and evaluate them to proof of concept level.

The alliance – the first such partnership between a pharmaceutical company and a public institution in the UK – reflects the major unmet need in this disease area.

Scientists from UCL and Eisai will form a Therapeutic Innovation Group with a joint steering committee co-chaired by Eisai’s Neuroscience Unit President, Dr Lynn Kramer, and UCL’s Professor Alan Thompson.

UCL has a strong record of research into the causes of neurological diseases, while Eisai has extensive experience of developing and gaining regulatory approval for neurological drugs.

Eisai and UCL will share royalties on medicines developed through the partnership, and the university will also receive milestones payments.

Dr Lynn Kramer commented: “Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease represent a significant unmet medical need due to lack of effective treatments that can prevent disease progression.

“In this unique collaboration, we hope our complementary expertise will identify potential new drug targets that we can bring to market and make available to patients that need it the most.”

“This is a genuinely new way of collaborating on pharmaceutical research for UCL, with exciting implications for research with the potential to lead to step changes in the treatment of diseases which affect the nervous system,” said Professor Sir John Tooke, UCL’s Vice Provost for Health.

The Japanese pharma company’s relationship with UCL – ranked among the world’s leading universities – goes back 20 years with shared research into neurodegenerative diseases.

Sub-standard primary care treatment for people with neurological conditions is resulting in a high number of emergency hospital admissions, a new report has said.

A report by the Neurological Alliance accuses the NHS of neglecting patients through delays in diagnosis and failure to provide information on treatment options.

The Alliance said that the NHS reforms would not improve standards of care due to levers “not being mobilised to support improvements”.

The report called for the new bodies created as part of the Health and Social Care Act to address the “legacy of neglect” that has resulted in “unacceptable variations in outcomes and higher than necessary costs”.

Neurological conditions, such as epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, account for 5% of overall spending on the NHS.

The DH and the NHS Commissioning Board have now been challenged by the Alliance to devise indicators for quality of service that will overhaul and improve standards of care.

The DH said that discussions were already taking place to ensure that strategic clinical networks cover these conditions. “We are working closely with patient groups and health professionals to develop a new Long-Term Conditions Strategy,” said a spokesperson. “The NHS Commissioning Board is already planning to drive improvements to improve mental health services, dementia and neurological conditions.”

The Neurological Alliance is formed by 70 charities that work with people with related brain, spinal column or nerve conditions.

Global pharma giant AstraZeneca (AZ) its setting up a new ‘virtual’ neuroscience R&D unit within its Innovative Medicines division to seek effective therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s through ‘open innovation’.

The new unit, based in Boston, US, and Cambridge, UK, will consist of 40–50 AZ scientists working with an external network of academic and industry partners.

Neuroscientist Dr Mike Poole, who has extensive experience in pharmaceutical R&D, has been appointed to lead the unit.

This initiative is part of a major AZ restructure that will see 2,200 R&D jobs axed, with the company hoping to “pioneer a new approach to neuroscience drug discovery and development” – which it says has “proved elusive” in the past.

AZ’s strategy reflects the growing industry trend towards the ‘open innovation’ model, whereby a company broadens its expertise by collaborating with the wider research community.

Dr Pool joins AZ from US neuroscience research company Link Medicine. He has held senior research posts at Wyeth and Pfizer, as well as being Chief Medical Officer at biotech company Hypnion.

Dr Menelas Pangalos, Executive VP of AZ’s Innovative Medicines division, said: “AstraZeneca is deeply committed to neuroscience research and the discovery and development of new treatments for a full range of neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s, neuropathic pain, depression and Parkinson’s.

“While many companies have exited or scaled back efforts in this high-risk area, we will step up the search for new medicines to help people with neurological and psychiatric diseases. We are confident this new approach will enable us to tap the most exciting science and discoveries that exist in labs around the world.”

For AZ, the new ‘virtual’ R&D unit will replace existing neuroscience R&D teams at Montreal, Canada and Södertälje, Sweden. The Montreal site will close, but the Södertälje site will retain its manufacturing and commercial functions.

US biotechnology company Biogen Idec has agreed to pay up to $299m (including milestone payments) for the rights to a drug for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the foremost genetic cause of infant mortality.

ISIS-SMNRx is an investigational drug from Isis Pharmaceuticals that has been granted orphan drug status by the FDA for the treatment of SMA.

Biogen Idec and Isis Pharmaceuticals have formed an exclusive global option and collaboration agreement to develop and commercialise the drug.

Isis will receive an upfront payment of $29 million and up to $45 million in milestone payments before the drug is licensed, then up to a further $225 million in regulatory milestone payments, as well as royalties.

Isis will be responsible for the clinical development of ISIS-SMNRx through to the completion of phase III clinical trials. Biogen Idec will be responsible for the drug’s global development, regulatory approval and commercialisation.

SMA is a genetic disorder that causes muscle atrophy and weakness, affecting one child in every 10,000. In its most severe form, SMA reduces a child’s life expectancy to about two years.

ISIS-SMNRx is an ‘antisense’ genetic therapy that alters the splicing of a closely related gene to compensate for the defective gene that causes SMA.

“SMA can kill children before their second birthday and there are currently no therapies to treat the disease,” said George A. Scangos, CEO of Biogen Idec. “The unmet need could not be any greater, and Isis’ antisense compound has the potential to be a highly effective, first-to-market therapy for this deadly disease.”

Stanley T. Crooke, CEO of Isis, commented: “Biogen Idec’s expertise in the global development and commercialisation of innovative new therapies for neurologic diseases is a great strategic fit to advance ISIS-SMNRx.”

The Government has claimed people who ignore receiving the seasonal flu vaccine are playing “Russian roulette with their lives”.

A DH survey found that 87% of holidaymakers get the necessary injections to combat tropical diseases, but separate figures reveal that less than half under-65s advised to get the flu jab were vaccinated.

Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, says there is “no reason not to get vaccinated” and urged those eligible to get the jab as soon as possible.

Pregnant women, patients with long-term conditions such as diabetes and asthma, and anyone with a neurological condition can get the vaccination free of charge.

Frontline health and social care workers, carers, pensioners and those in nursing homes are also encouraged to get vaccinated. But the survey found that only a third of frontline doctors and nurses opted to have the flu jab last winter.

More than 600 people died with flu in Britain last year, the majority of whom were young or middle aged. But the Chief Medical Officer says this number could be reduced if people took just a matter of minutes to get vaccinated.

“A five-minute appointment to have the flu jab could save your life,” said Professor Davies. “Flu can be a serious illness – particularly for those in at risk groups. It can result in a spell in hospital, and sadly, flu can kill. The best way to protect yourself is to be vaccinated.

“It takes five to ten days for the vaccine to take effect so I’d urge everyone in an at risk group to get vaccinated as soon as they are able.”

The National Director of Immunisation, Professor David Salisbury, added that it was equally as important to be covered against tropical diseases as it is the flu and the sooner they do the better.

“It is very important that people in these groups get vaccinated early in the flu season so they are protected before flu starts to circulate.

“About three-quarters of older people get their flu vaccine each year, but only around half of younger people in at risk groups get vaccinated. Seasonal flu is not the same as getting a cold – it can seriously affect your health.”

David Bredt, Eli Lilly’s former head of neurological research, has joined Johnson & Johnson.

In his new role, Bredt will oversee the work discovering potential drugs for Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases and developing ways to measure their potential worth.

He led neuroscience at Lilly for six years, following a successful career at the University of California at San Francisco Medical School.

Lilly spokeswoman Judy Kay Moore said: “We at Lilly thank Dr Bredt for his many significant contributions to our neuroscience portfolio over the past several years and, before that, as vice president of integrative biology. We wish him well in his future endeavors.

“Lilly has a strong history in neuroscience research and development, and neuroscience remains a major therapeutic focus of ours.”

She added that the company is conducting a “robust search” for a successor.

In a similar case of ‘talent poaching’, Pfizer’s Asian R&D chief, Steven Yang, left the company in December to join AstraZeneca.