UK to invest in personalized medicine
The U.K.'s Medical Research Council (MRC) and Technology Strategy Board will jointly invest over L3.7 million ($6 million) to fund seven research projects focused on personalized medicine. Four projects will focus on the development of biomarkers to predict response to inflammation and immunology therapies and three will focus on business models, including the best ways to co-develop drugs and companion diagnostics. Three of the projects will be led by GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK; NYSE:GSK), while the remaining four will be split among AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NYSE:AZN), Ig Innovations Ltd. (Llandysul, U.K.), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and Randox Laboratories Ltd. (Crumlin, U.K.). The projects are part of the Stratified Medicines Innovation Platform, which launched last year to provide over L50 million for personalized medicines research (see BioCentury, Oct. 12, 2010). ...