Arix Bioscience, LDC, MPI, University of Leeds join to fight metabolic diseases

Arix Bioscience, the Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), Max Planck Innovation GmbH (MPI), and the University of Leeds have signed agreement to develop new therapeutics for metabolic diseases based on the discoveries from these organisations.

According to the agreement, Arix Bioscience will fund and manage experimental work that builds on fundamental discoveries from the faculty of cardiovascular medicine and diabetes at the University of Leeds and LDC, focusing on the development of antagonists of a novel target for a variety of metabolic indications.

Also, LDC, established by Max Planck Innovation and the Max Planck Society to capitalise on the potential of research from Max Planck Institutes, takes basic pathobiology or novel targets from academia and uses its integrated drug discovery platform to produce new candidate therapies for development.

This collaboration originated from a strategic agreement signed between Arix Bioscience and LDC in 2016, under which the LDC shares pipeline projects with Arix Bioscience. This is the first project to arise from this agreement.

Joe Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of Arix Bioscience, commented: “Arix Bioscience aims to identify the best innovation in healthcare and life science and to use our permanent capital approach and strategic insight to support scientific teams in converting this innovation into proprietary development projects.”

Arix’s CEO further said that the company has recently raised £100m in an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange from a range of high quality investors who are supportive of company’s strategy.