January 27, 2012: Novo Nordisk has announced plans to establish a type 1 diabetes R&D centre in Seattle, Washington, USA. The new centre will combine the company’s experience in diabetes treatment with its increasing expertise in immunotherapy. The company said the concept behind the centre was to pursue a translational research approach characterised by combining basic research and early proof-of-concept trials under one umbrella. It said this would give the necessary scientific foundation to move early-stage discovery projects rapidly from animal models into small clinical exploratory trials in type 1 diabetes.
“Novo Nordisk has been passionate about helping people fight diabetes since the company was founded, and it is our mission to take type 1 diabetes research to the next level,” said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, the company’s executive vice president and chief science officer. “With the new type 1 diabetes R&D centre, we hope to accelerate the process of finding new, innovative ways of treating people with this disease. Our vision is to prevent, treat and ultimately cure diabetes.”
Matthias von Herrath, MD, a world-renowned researcher in autoimmune diseases who received the American Diabetes Association Outstanding Achievement Award in 2008, will head the new research centre. He currently holds the position of director of the Center for Type 1 Diabetes Research at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology. He has been with the institute since 2001 and will continue to hold a part-time faculty position there. He also serves as president of both the Immunology of Diabetes Society (IDS) and the Clinical Immunology Society (CIS).
The Novo Nordisk Type 1 Diabetes R&D Center is planned to open this summer with about 20 researchers supported by corporate functions in the USA and Denmark. The centre will be located on the same premises as the Novo Nordisk Inflammation Research Center to foster natural research synergies between the two sites.
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