University of California San Diego School of Medicine said it has agreed to a five-year partnership with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, to research treatments for metabolic diseases.
UC San Diego School of Medicine and Janssen will apply their joint expertise to come up with new targets, biomarkers, and gastric bypass approaches with the ability to improve treatments for obesity and related conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), chronic kidney disease (CKD) and metabolic liver disease, UC San Diego Health said in a press release.
“Through this collaboration, we can be better equipped to find solutions for metabolic diseases that affect millions worldwide and are inadequately treated with current therapies,” Jerrold Olefsky, associate dean for scientific affairs at UC San Diego School of Medicine and professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, said in the release. “This collaboration pulls together a world-class team with UC San Diego researchers bringing extensive scientific expertise and human biology knowledge, and Janssen scientists providing drug discovery and clinical development expertise and capabilities.”
Nine projects will be started in the first year and focus on developing animal and cell models of NASH and CKD and the detection of mechanisms conjured by bariatric surgery, disease-related biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets, UC San Diego Health said.
