Personalised healthcare: transforming the way we use medicine

AstraZeneca is pleased to announce that Professor David Goldstein will join the Company in the consultative role of Chief Adviser, Genomics to lead its integrated genomics initiative, which was announced in April. This 10-year initiative will focus on the discovery of new targets and biomarkers linked to molecular mechanisms of disease across AstraZeneca’s main therapy areas. Professor Goldstein will continue in his full-time role as Director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine, John E. Borne Professor and Professor of Genetics and Development at Columbia University Medical Center. He is renowned for his research on human genetic diversity, the genetics of disease and pharmacogenetics and will be responsible for driving the scientific progress of AstraZeneca’s genomics initiative, created to transform drug discovery and development across the entire research and development pipeline.

New understanding of how hormone-producing cells in the pancreas decode their genetic instructions is pointing to novel targets for next generation medicines for type 2 diabetes, obesity and other metabolic disorders.
A large scale analysis of gene expression in individual islet cells of the pancreas suggests insulin-producing beta cells are not the only sub-class of cells important for glucose control and diabetes treatment as previously thought. The research, carried out at the AstraZeneca/ Karolinska Insitutet Integrated Cardiometabolic Center (ICMC), Stockholm, Sweden, has shown that other types of islet cells, notably alpha and delta, may also play a significant role.

A guest blog post by Dr. Tony Hockley, Visiting Senior Fellow, Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). LSE is developing a white paper on PAD funded by and in collaboration with AstraZeneca. PAD is a disease that affects around 202 million people worldwide1 and puts a significant strain on health and economic systems yet awareness remains low and sub-optimal care is an issue.

Commentary by Jennie Younger, Vice President of Global Corporate Affairs, on Dr. Tony Hockley’s post on PAD (peripheral arterial disease).

“There are still patients out there with unmet clinical need, waiting for new medicines. That’s how important this is.” AstraZeneca and Charles River share a passion for ground-breaking scientific research. Our partnership is focused on accelerating the delivery of new medicines. Watch our video to find out more about our success to date.

For the first time, scientists from our Innovative Medicines & Early Development (IMED) Biotech Unit have shown that it is possible to inhibit high value protein-protein interaction (PPIs) drug targets, such as Mcl-1, through the use of novel lysine targeting covalent warheads. 

AstraZeneca has been named a sustainability leader within the Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences industry of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). The company’s score of 86% is an improvement of two points from 2015, and only three points behind the 2016 industry leader.
 
In this year’s DJSI assessment, AstraZeneca made a significant improvement in the environmental dimension of this index, gaining 18 percentage points, and were awarded sector-best scores in Code of Conduct (100%), Marketing Practices (93%), Climate Strategy (100%), Occupational Health & Safety (88%) and Health Outcomes Contribution (100%).