Bayer HealthCare and Kyoto University’s Office of Society-Academia Collaboration for Innovation (KU-SACI) have signed a two-year agreement to jointly identify candidates for possible collaborative research projects. The partners will focus on key areas of unmet medical need such as cardiology, oncology, hematology, gynecology, and ophthalmology.
Bayer said the agreement is part of its overall approach to collaborate with external partners from academia and industry to discover and develop new treatment options. Recently launched collaborations include the strategic research alliance in the area of gynecological therapies with the University of Oxford as well as with Dimension Therapeutics for the development and commercialization of a gene therapy treatment for hemophilia A.
The agreement with KU-SACI aims to combine Kyoto’s innovative approaches in diverse research areas with Bayer’s expertise in drug discovery and development. The endeavor will be supported by Bayer’s newly established Open Innovation Center Japan in Osaka.
Bayer has also established two research incubators for young life science companies in the context of its open innovation approach, named “CoLaborator” at Bayer’s R&D sites in San Francisco’s Mission Bay and Berlin.
