National Institute Of Health To Partner With Drug Makers To Find New Meds

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The U.S. National Institutes of Health will collaborate with numerous biopharmaceutical companies and disease foundations on an unusual project to find and bring new medicines to patients faster.

The Accelerating Medicines Partnership, just announced, will focus on the early part of drug research — identifying biological targets present in a disease, such as abnormal genes or particular proteins.

The partnership will aim to develop new diagnostic tests and therapies focused on those targets, but more quickly and at a lower cost than today's typical drug development.

The new collaboration will start with pilot projects in three disease areas: Alzheimer's, type 2 diabetes and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

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