Astellas partners with universities for neglected tropical diseases
Astellas Pharma Inc. (Tokyo:4503) announced separate deals on Thursday with two Japanese universities to discover drug candidates to treat neglected tropical diseases caused by dengue virus. The Institute of Tropical Medicine at Nagasaki University will screen in vitro compounds with possible anti-dengue activities provided by Astellas, and then evaluate the compounds in vivo in animal models of infection. Under a separate deal, the Tokyo Institute of Technology will use its supercomputer TSUBAME2.0 for data mining and in silico screening of public information to identify compounds with predicted anti-dengue virus activity. Astellas will provide data for mining and will select hit compounds to be evaluated further. Astellas and the universities could not be reached for details. ...