GSK, Cold Spring Harbor Labs Form Diabetes Research Pact

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), a non-profit research and educational institution, has formed a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to develop a treatment for obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Scientists at CSHL and GSK will pursue drug development based on an approach to regulate the enzymatic activity of the phosphatase PTP1B. The goal of the multi-year CSHL-GSK collaboration is to identify potent, selective, orally bioavailable small molecules that inhibit PTP1B activity in vivo following stimulation by insulin and leptin, which would be expected to overcome insulin and leptin resistance that is encountered in diabetes and obesity.

The work at CSHL will be led by Professor Nicholas Tonks, who is an expert on the protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) family of enzymes and their roles in human diseases. He is considered a pioneer in the PTP field, having discovered PTP1B. His work was instrumental in establishing the importance of the PTP family of enzymes as regulators of how cells respond to stimuli from their environment and as potential therapeutic candidates for several human diseases. “At GSK, we believe that combining the in-depth target and disease knowledge of renowned academic groups with our drug-discovery expertise and capabilities can foster innovation and speed up the discovery and development of new medicines,” said Carolyn Buser, global head of The Discovery Partnership with Academia program (DPAc) at GSK, in a statement “We are excited to expand our partnerships in North America and look forward to working closely with Dr. Tonks, whose deep understanding of protein tyrosine phosphatase biology will complement our own work in this field.” GSK currently has 13 DPAc collaborations in place at academic research institutions in North America and Europe.

GSK and CSHL will provide project co-leadership, allowing synergy between their different sets of expertise to facilitate the development of novel therapeutics.

Source: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *