AstraZeneca has entered a two-year research collaboration with the University of Michigan to advance treatments for chronic kidney disease (CKD).
The collaboration will work together to identify novel targets for treatment of CKD and focus on the use of patient tissue and validation of preclinical models.
AstraZeneca cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (CVMD) innovative medicines unit head Marcus Schindler said: "Current approaches to treating the complications of diabetes mean that patients need expensive treatment options which are often limited, so there is a significant unmet medical need.
"Through this collaboration, we will generate increasing evidence that we are pursuing the right therapeutic targets to treat CKD, which will shift clinical therapy to a more focused patient population, giving a better response to treatments and slowing disease progression."
Under the deal, AstraZeneca's scientists from laboratories of Mölndal, Sweden, will work with a team of investigators at the University of Michigan led by internal medicine and computational medicine and bioinformatics professor Matthias Kretzler.
Researchers will analyse databases of biopsies from CKD patients to identify biological targets and pathways that predict disease progression, and will also create improved animal models that better reflect the human disease condition.
In addition, the team will work together to identify biomarkers in patient samples that are associated with disease progression and response to treatment.
With operations in around 100 countries, AstraZeneca develops and markets prescription medicines to treat cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, inflammation, autoimmune, oncology, infection, and neurological diseases.
