Pfizer and King’s to collaborate on pain research
pharmafile | March 9, 2010 | News story | Research and Development | King's, Pfizer, UK
Pfizer has partnered with King’s College London to create an open innovation laboratory for pain research.
The project will include a group of Pfizer scientists based at the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases at the university’s Guy’s Campus in London.
The Pfizer group will be part of a larger team at the College including academics such as Professors Steve McMahon and Stuart Bevan.
The Centre is a facility that brings together 25 research groups focusing on the molecules and principles that govern the development of the central and peripheral nervous system.
“The basic academic work that we will be doing with Pfizer in the area of pain and receptor trafficking is closely aligned with the research interests of the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases,” said Professor Pat Doherty, Director of the Wolfson Centre.
He continued: “The Pfizer colleagues will have joint academic appointments within King’s College London, and will work closely together with our established teams in a truly collaborative effort aimed at understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying chronic and neuropathic pain, conditions that affect many people.”
It is hoped that the collaboration will provide the opportunity to develop the understanding of neuroscience and to translate this new knowledge into outcomes with sustained clinical impact.
Gillian Burgess, Pain Research Chief Scientific Officer, Pfizer said: “This is a great opportunity for Pfizer and King’s College to collaborate on early science focused on investigating key mechanisms associated with chronic pain.”
She added: “This partnership will allow our scientists to work in an academic setting and combine resources with King’s scientists to advance knowledge in this important area. We hope that this will lead to greater innovation and in turn bring benefits for patients living with pain.”
Pfizer currently have 12 pain treatments in its pipeline ranging from treatments for acute and chronic pain to neuropathic and osteoarthritic pain. Its most recent to be filed is an updated form of Celebrex, the NSAID indicated for chronic arthritic pain, that it is hopeful will be approved this year.
A recent study published by the Chronic Pain Policy Coalition campaign group found that nearly eight million people in the UK are suffering ongoing problems with pain. The research also found that pain was the second most common reason cited by incapacity benefit claimants for not working.
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