Academia-industry collaborations to advance innovations & translational medicine in the cardiometabolic area.

Purpose and goal

Projects were conducted as academia-industry collaborations for drug development in diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The aim and goal of the project were to together with the industry-partners investigate new, potential treatment options in this area. An important part of the project was to develop the applicant´s knowledge, contacts and skills in drug development, as well as to strengthen innovation power and industrial cooperation at Lund University. The aim was also to develop the applicant´s leadership ability.

Expected results and effects

The grant has been crucial for the researcher´s ability to further develop skills and knowledge within innovative drug development, and also to build an extended network in this area. In addition to the personal competence development, the grant has resulted in several positive effects including the dissemination of knowledge about drug development (for example via doctoral seminar) and increased industrial cooperation which includes contributions to the establishment of an Industry Research Center in diabetes (www.ludc.lu.se/about-us/ludc-irc) with Pfizer as a partner.

Planned approach and implementation

The grant recipient made several longer stays at Pfizer, Cambridge, MA, USA, and one longer stay at Zealand Pharma in Denmark, and also had several virtual meetings for planning and follow-up. Recurring stays proved to be suitable for initiating new contacts and developing new project ideas. In addition, several educational activities were carried out, partly at Lund University (leadership) and at the companies (biosafety, intangible values, handling of sensitive / confidential information).