Pact to Discover and Develop Osteoporosis Drugs

An agreement to collaborate on the discovery and development of new drugs for the treatment of osteoporosis has been announced by Ferring Pharmaceuticals (Copenhagen, Denmark) and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC, Boston, MA, USA).

The collaboration between Ferring and BIDMC will focus on the role of the parathyroid hormone (PTH) and its receptor in bone metabolism, an area in which BIDMC researchers have made significant advances in recent years. Under the terms of the three-year agreement, BIDMC will receive compounds from Ferring Pharmaceuticals to test as activators or suppressors of the PTH pathway. The two parties will then collaborate on the design and testing of new peptide therapies for the treatment and prevention of bone loss.

"Our studies of the molecular pathophysiology and cell biology of osteoporosis have led to a critical understanding of the PTH hormone and receptor as integral components to the process of bone formation,” says Michael Rosenblatt, M.D., chief of the division of bone and mineral research at BIDMC and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "This collaboration with Ferring Pharmaceuticals will give us the opportunity to design and test new activators and suppressors of the PTH pathway in our efforts to develop more effective drugs for the treatment of osteoporosis.”




Related Links:
Ferring Pharmaceuticals
Israel Deaconess Medical Center