The Drug Discovery Alliance is an ambitious multi-million dementia drug discovery initiative that provides free collaboration within the academic environment.
The three Drug Discovery Institutes (DDIs) are based within University College London, University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. They couple the biological expertise of academic collaborators with innovative drug discovery expertise to provide translational capability.
Each DDI houses dedicated biology and chemistry teams to evaluate promising new targets. They establish assays to evaluate targets, screen compound libraries, and improve hits into potent and selective lead molecules. These lead molecules provide tools for pharmacological proof of concept and provide the basis for the next generation of medicines to treat neurodegeneration.
The DDIs are reviewed annually by the Alzheimer's Research UK Drug Discovery Alliance Advisory Group (ADAG), a panel of drug discovery experts from both industry and academia, based in the UK and beyond.
Together, the Drug Discovery Institutes are exploring a wide range of disease mechanisms spanning the full spectrum of dementias.
ALBORADA Drug Discovery Institute
Housed in the heart of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, the Drug Discovery Institute builds collaborative projects across the University and beyond.
Oxford Drug Discovery Institute
Embedded within the Centre for Medicines Discovery, Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford, the Oxford Drug Discovery Institute is uniting collaborative efforts for target identification with sophisticated target development capabilities.
UCL Drug Discovery Institute
Located within the Cruciform Building, in the heart of UCL’s Bloomsbury Campus, the Drug Discovery Institute draws on a wealth of disease expertise to generate well validated targets and optimised leads.
Case study
Notum and the blood brain barrier
Other opportunities
For promising data that are too preliminary but show potential for collaboration with the Alzheimer's Research UK Drug Discovery Alliance, our Pilot Project Grant offers up to £70,000 to support translational research that shows potential for collaboration.
To learn more about collaborating with the Drug Discovery Alliance, contact DDAenquiries@alzheimersresearchuk.org to kick-start discussions with the Chief Scientific Officers of all three institutes.
