Sankyo Grant Renewal Extends Funding of UAB Research to $16.6 Million

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has renewed its research agreement with Sankyo Co. Ltd., the second largest pharmaceutical company in Japan, to study rheumatoid arthritis and now cancer, an expanded focus of the continuing collaboration. The two-year, $4.2 million renewal extends an eight-year, $12.4 million commitment by Sankyo to fund research led by UAB’s Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Center.

January 27, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL - The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has renewed its research agreement with Sankyo Co. Ltd., the second largest pharmaceutical company in Japan, to study rheumatoid arthritis and now cancer, an expanded focus of the continuing collaboration. The two-year, $4.2 million renewal extends an eight-year, $12.4 million commitment by Sankyo to fund research led by UAB's Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Center.

"The UAB-Sankyo program is UAB's largest private research agreement," said Dr. William J. Koopman, chair of UAB's department of medicine and director of the joint research program. "We are pleased Sankyo has agreed to renew its commitment to this effort, and we look forward to continuing our studies at UAB."

Since its inception, the collaboration has resulted in significant advances in the understanding of immune system activation in rheumatoid arthritis. One study, published last year in Nature Medicine, underscores the clinical application of the research and its implications both for arthritis and other diseases such as cancer. "Dr. Tong Zhou has developed a particular therapeutic antibody that selectively targets and destroys harmful cells in active immune diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and in many types of cancer," said Dr. Robert Kimberly, professor and chair of the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at UAB. "We now are working to harness this antibody, known as TRA-8, which may prove a more effective treatment for these diseases."

Sankyo, headquartered in Tokyo, was established in 1899. The company develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceuticals worldwide through Sankyo Parke Davis in the United States, Sankyo Pharma Group in Europe, and branches and joint ventures throughout Asia. The company manufactures breakthrough drugs including Pravastatin (MevalotinTM, PravacholTM), an anti-hyperlipidemic; Troglitazone (NoscalTM, RezulinTM), the first of a new class of drugs for targeting insulin resistance; Cefpodoxime proxetil (BananTM, VantinTM), an oral anti-infective; and Loxoprofen sodium (LoxoninTM), an anti-inflammatory.