HATFIELD, England, May 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, President & CEO: Haruo Naito, "Eisai") announced today that it has entered a new phase in the partnership between its Neuroscience Product Creation Unit (Neuroscience PCU) and University College London (UCL), a U.K.-based university with which the company has been collaborating with for over 20 years since 1990. This new phase will see the Eisai Neuroscience PCU and UCL engage in joint research in the neurodegenerative disease arena including biomarker research, namely 1) Neuroinflammation, 2) Neurovascular/Mitochondria, and 3) Proteostasis related research, with the two parties commencing joint studies as early as Fiscal 2011.

UCL is a prestigious English research-based university that was ranked 4th overall in the world in the QS World University Rankings 20101). Home to the UCL Institute of Neurology, a leading-edge research institute specializing in neurodegenerative disease, UCL carries out frontier research in this field on a global scale.

During the course of their partnership which began in 1990, Eisai and UCL established an Eisai research facility on the UCL campus and have forged strong cooperative ties through research activities that included the exchange of personnel. The commencement of the new joint research project will enable the two parties to carry out some of the world's most advanced scientific research into neurodegenerative disease. Additionally, Eisai will integrate its UCL research functions into its U.K.-based Eisai European Knowledge Centre, located in the Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Through these changes, Eisai and UCL will further strengthen their collaborative relationship, with the partnership entering a new phase that will facilitate knowledge creation through an even deeper level of open innovation.

As the creator of Aricept(R), the gold standard in Alzheimer's disease treatment, Eisai has led the world in the field of neurodegenerative disease and is currently pursuing development of a number of other novel pipeline products in this arena. In its epilepsy franchise, Eisai plans to submit marketing authorization applications to the regulatory authorities in the United States and Europe for perampanel, a first-in-class, highly selective, non-competitive AMPA-type glutamate receptor antagonist that was created through collaborative research between Eisai and its UCL research facility, to complement its currently marketed products which include Zonegran(R), Inovelon(R) and Zebinix(R).

Eisai is committed to making further contributions to address unmet medical needs and increase the benefits provided to patients and families across Europe by maintaining, strengthening and further developing the relationships and confidence built up with UCL thus far while at the same time leveraging the knowledge accumulated over the course of the partnership.

1) QS World University Rankings 2010. http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010

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SOURCE Eisai Co., Ltd