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|Articles|January 30, 2017
Novo Nordisk Invests $144 million in U.K. Diabetes Facility
Author(s)Philip Ward
As part of its collaboration on type 2 diabetes with the University of Oxford in the U.K., Novo Nordisk is investing 1 billion Danish kroner over the next 10 years in a new research center.
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As part of its collaboration on type 2 diabetes with the University of Oxford in the U.K., Novo Nordisk is investing around 1 billion Danish kroner ($144 million or £115 million) over the next 10 years in a new research center.
The Novo Nordisk Research Center Oxford will employ up to 100 scientists from the company and will focus on early stage research projects with the potential to have a substantial impact on future treatment of type 2 diabetes and its complications, according to Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, Chief Science Officer and Executive Vice President of Novo Nordisk.
“This collaboration brings together some of the world’s sharpest minds in the field of diabetes to seek new targets for therapeutic innovation,” he said. “Our vision is that the unique combination of industrial and academic know-how will eventually lead to a new generation of treatments to improve the lives of people with type 2 diabetes.”
Prof. James D. Johnson, PhD, has been appointed head of the new facility. He is a researcher in the fundamental biology of pancreatic islets, insulin action, diabetes and related conditions, and he is currently professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences and the Department of Surgery at the University of British Columbia.
Novo Nordisk and the University of Oxford have had a collaboration since 2013 through the International Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme. The scheme was extended in 2015 and now includes up to 32 fellows.
Oxford University’s Medical Sciences Division is one of the largest biomedical research centers in Europe, with over 2,500 people involved in research and more than 2,800 students. It has one of the largest clinical trial portfolios in the U.K. and expertise in taking discoveries from the lab into the clinic. It has an established network of clinical research units in Asia and Africa involved in malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS, and flu.
Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk has more than 90 years of experience in diabetes care, and specializes in haemophilia, growth disorders, and obesity. It employs approximately 42,100 people in 75 countries and markets its products in more than 180 countries.
To read the full press release,
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