Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited will expand its Take a New challenge for Drug diScovery (TaNeDS) Global Programme, a collaborative drug discovery programme with universities and research institutions based in Japan, to Germany, Switzerland and Austria. As part of the programme, Daiichi Sankyo is seeking to work with innovative partners for research that could result in novel drug discovery candidates and novel new drugs.

The TaNeDS programme is open to researchers of any nationality employed by universities, research institutes and start-up companies in Germany, Switzerland and Austria who can conduct research in those countries with projects that align with Daiichi Sankyo’s research areas of interest, which include novel biologic agents (antibody drugs, etc.) for treatment of cancer, small-molecule cancer therapeutics, novel drug treatments for diabetes and complications of diabetes, novel mechanisms for genetic disorders, novel target molecules and delivery systems for nucleic acid treatments, and technology for protein x-ray crystallography.

Daiichi Sankyo and Germany based, U3 Pharma GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daiichi Sankyo, will select institutions that match their research needs and demonstrate originality, potential and promise as drug discovery candidates.

The TaNeDS collaborative drug discovery project was launched in Japan in 2011 to help discover new lines of research through open innovation. Many researchers in Japan have applied to the programme and research on selected themes is currently being conducted.

Daiichi Sankyo seeks innovative technological research collaborators for novel drug discovery and testing projects that could result in novel drug discovery candidates and novel new drugs.

Daiichi Sankyo Group is dedicated to the creation and supply of innovative pharmaceutical products to address the diversified, unmet medical needs of patients in both mature and emerging markets.