The Rainwater Charitable Foundation announces partnership with drug discovery teams at the University of Oxford

Partnership intends to accelerate translation of discoveries in disease biology towards novel treatments for patients with tauopathies.

FORT WORTH, Texas, June 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rainwater Charitable Foundation (RCF), one of the largest independent funders of neurodegenerative disease research, today announced that it has entered a partnership with the Alzheimer's Research UK Oxford Drug Discovery Institute (ARUK-ODDI) at the University of Oxford. This partnership intends to accelerate the development of novel therapeutics aimed at the treatment of tauopathies, a group of progressive neurodegenerative diseases.

The RCF and ARUK-ODDI will work together to take discoveries made by principal investigators within the Tau Consortium through the "valley of death" of drug discovery by applying an integrated drug discovery approach to advance these discoveries to the clinic. The ARUK-ODDI brings best practice target validation, assay development and execution, computational chemistry, and ADME-supported medicinal chemistry. The deep knowledge in basic discovery biology and tauopathy mechanisms derived from the Tau Consortium principal investigators will complement the drug discovery expertise of the ARUK-ODDI team. This partnership aims to pave the way for future partnerships to enable clinical development and commercialization. 

"This collaborative partnership is a significant step forward in our plans to bring potential treatments closer to the clinic for patients suffering from tauopathies," said Leticia Toledo-Sherman, PhD., Senior Director of Drug Discovery for the Tau Consortium at the RCF. "The Oxford DDI team combines a deep understanding of Alzheimer's Disease, primary tauopathies, and neuroinflammation with critical drug discovery expertise. This combination and their record of bringing academic programs towards the clinic will be instrumental for the success of our therapeutic development efforts."

Prof John Davis, Business Development Director for the Alzheimer's Research UK Drug Discovery Alliance said: 
"The Rainwater Charitable Foundation's Tau Consortium has given many of the world's best tau research teams a unifying alliance that is resulting in more rapid progress towards identifying the key molecular mechanisms at play in tauopathies and the distressing neurodegenerative diseases that they cause. The Alzheimer's Research UK Oxford Drug Discovery Institute at the University of Oxford is delighted to be partnering with the RCF to drive forward the translation of the latest scientific advances into novel therapeutic approaches, that we hope will ultimately be of benefit to patients."

The Rainwater Charitable Foundation (RCF) was created in the early 1990s by renowned private equity investor and philanthropist Richard E. Rainwater. The RCF supports a range of programs in K-12 education, medical research, and other worthy causes. To deliver on its mission to accelerate the development of new diagnostics and treatments for tau-related neurodegenerative disorders, the RCF medical research team manages the Tau Consortium and the Rainwater Prize programs. With over $145 million invested to date, the RCF has helped to advance eight treatments into human trials. For more information, please visit http://rainwatercharitablefoundation.org/, www.rainwaterprize.org, and https://tauconsortium.org/. 

The Alzheimer's Research UK Oxford Drug Discovery Institute (ARUK-ODDI) is a research team within the Centre for Medicines Discovery (CMD) at the University of Oxford. The CMD is a grouping of research teams within the Nuffield Department of Medicine with complimentary disciplines and a unifying mission to conduct translational biology and discover novel therapeutic approaches. The ARUK-ODDI was founded in 2014 through a £10M grant from Alzheimer's Research UK, which was renewed in 2020, and is part of a Drug Discovery Alliance, funded by the charity, with parallel institutes in Cambridge and London (UK). The ARUK-ODDI comprises scientific experts in cell and molecular neurobiology, molecular pharmacologists, screening experts, computational and medicinal chemists co-located in world-class facilities at the heart of the University of Oxford's biomedical campus. The ARUK-ODDI's mission is to work up new targets, identified by academic collaborators, and, through collaboration, deliver chemical lead series and proof of concept studies that justify continued development.

Alzheimer's Research UK is the UK's leading charity specializing in finding preventions, treatments, and a cure for dementia. Our animation "What is dementia?" explains the essentials of dementia and the diseases that cause it   What is dementia? Alzheimer's Research UK - YouTube

Alzheimer's Research UK is currently supporting pioneering dementia research projects worth nearly £34 million (equivalent to 47 million US Dollars) in leading Universities across the UK. Find out more at www.alzheimersresearchuk.org and help us share a better understanding about dementia.

Glenn A. Harris
Director of Business Development & Research Partnerships
Rainwater Charitable Foundation
gharris@rainwatercf.org

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http://rainwatercharitablefoundation.org/