EIF and K.U.Leuven invest 16 million euro in Centre for Drug Design and Discovery

The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven - K.U.Leuven) and the European Investment Fund (EIF) are investing an additional 16 million euro in the Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3), thereby increasing the total capital of CD3 to 24 million euro. 

CD3 allows fundamental innovative biomedical research carried out by universities and small biotech companies to be translated into promising new medicines. CD3 aims to develop the potential new medicines to a stage where the pharmaceutical and biotech industry are interested in either licensing the technologies developed or in undertaking collaborations with the project partners. The newly developed technologies can also form the basis for spin-off companies.

"In the past four years, together with its partners, CD3 has taken the initial steps in more than 15 projects in order to develop potential new medicines for various disorders, such as AIDS, cancer, arthritis, asthma, Dengue virus infections and Alzheimer's disease", says Patrick Chaltin, Managing Director of CD3.

"CD3 has been very successful in bridging the gap between academic innovative research and the needs of the pharmaceutical industry which culminated in several license agreements, including with leading pharmaceutical companies. This 16 million euro capital increase will also allow us to expand our activities outside of K.U.Leuven", Paul Van Dun, General Manager of K.U.Leuven Research & Development (LRD), adds.

CD3 has been set up in October 2006 as an investment fund and technology transfer platform for innovative small molecule drug discovery with a starting capital of 8 million euro. The decision to make a new contribution to the CD3 fund, bringing its total capital to 24 million euro, is based on CD3's successes of the past four years, as well as on a growing need for an investment fund in the life sciences field.

Commenting on the deal, Richard Pelly, Chief Executive of the EIF says: "Our investment in this initiative demonstrates our commitment to setting up long-term partnerships with first-class academic institutions and research centres. The partnership which we have created between the EIF and K.U.Leuven in 2006 has achieved very promising results so far. We are convinced that stepping up our financial support as well as providing tailored financial engineering solutions will help to further bridge the gap between research and the market."

About CD3 

The Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3) is a technology transfer platform and investment fund created by K.U.Leuven Research & Development (LRD) in the field of drug discovery and target validation. CD3 focuses on the discovery of new and innovative small molecule drugs in collaboration with academic research groups or small (spin-off) companies by delivering financial means in combination with expert drug discovery support. The centre has been established by K.U.Leuven in a partnership with the European Investment Fund (EIF).

Further information:  http://lrd.kuleuven.be/en/tc/cd3

About the European Investment Fund (EIF)

EIF is Europe's leading developer of risk financing for entrepreneurship and innovation. Its central mission is to support Europe's small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital and guarantees instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, regional development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.

The EIF is constantly developing Tech Transfer operations and concluding new strategic partnerships with renowned research centres and academic institutions aiming to bridge the gap between research and the market. It has signed agreements with a number of high profile Tech Transfer partnerships throughout Europe including K.U.Leuven, Chalmers Innovation in Gotheburg/Sweden, Karolinska Development in Stockholm/Sweden, UMIP premier fund in Manchester/UK and IP venture funds with ten universities in the UK.

About K.U.Leuven and K.U.Leuven Research & Development (LRD)

K.U.Leuven, founded in 1425, is the largest university in Belgium. As a leading European research university, it offers numerous academic programmes in Dutch and English, fuelled by interdisciplinary research at a high international level, both at the university itself and at its university hospitals. More than 6,000 researchers from more than 120 countries concentrate on curiosity-driven and groundbreaking strategic research, as well as targeted and demand-driven research.

Created in 1972 as one of the first technology transfer offices in Europe, K.U.Leuven Research & Development (LRD) has a long tradition in promoting and supporting the transfer of knowledge and technology between the university and industry. It provides an integrated approach to technology transfer covering research collaboration, patenting and licensing, and spin-off creation. Key figures for LRD in 2009 are: a total turnover of 136 million euro; about 1200 new contracts managed; 156 invention disclosures resulting in the filing of 73 new patent families; increase of the number of spinoffs created to a cumulative total of 89.

Several research groups at K.U.Leuven, such as the Rega Institute and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine have a proven track record in the discovery of new drugs for major diseases. Currently, more than five drugs on the market have initially been discovered at K.U.Leuven.

Further information:

www.kuleuven.be/english
http://lrd.kuleuven.be/en

For more information, please contact:

Patrick Chaltin, Managing Director of CD3: Patrick.Chaltin@lrd.kuleuven.be
Piyush Unalkat, European Investment Fund, Department of Technology Transfer: p.unalkat@eif.org
Susanne Gutjahr, European Investment Fund, Head of Communications: s.gutjahr@eif.org