STOCKHOLM, Sweden, June 11, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Biovitrum has together with 12 of the most distinguished research groups in Europe, established a network of excellence, a research collaboration to gain new insight and treatment opportunities in type 2 diabetes. The collaboration aims to strengthen the European position in diabetes research.
The European Union has recently decided to issue a substantial grant to support the collaboration. A network and a joint program have been developed. Several projects will be implemented as part of the cooperation. These include identification and analysis of new genes related to type 2 diabetes, development of a new technical platforms for characterization of the genes and coordination of resources to compile and analyze data from different studies.
Biovitrum contributes to the collaboration through evaluation of genes and proteins that can be suitable targets for treatment of type 2 diabetes or other indications within the metabolic syndrome. This may longer term, lead to development of new drug candidates.
The network includes distinguished research groups from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. The Swedish research groups are led by Prof Ulf Smith, Gothenburg, overall coordinator for the project and Prof. Juleen Zierath, Stockholm.
About Biovitrum
Biovitrum is a privately held biotech company active in the discovery and development of drugs to treat metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, and is active in process development and contract manufacturing of protein therapeutics. The company has strong intellectual property and technology platforms, with a number of compounds in pre-clinical and clinical development. Biovitrum is one of the largest biotech companies in Europe with more than 550 employees. Annual revenues, including royalties and contract service fees, finance a major part of the annual research budget. For more information, please visit Biovitrum's website at http://www.biovitrum.com.
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