Robot Gives Open Innvoation Drug Discovery a Boost
In a bid to speed up the discovery and development of new drugs for cancer, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is using what it claims is the world’s most advanced drug discovery robot to search for new oncology treatments.
And through its open innovation program, AZ will provide its partners with “unprecedented access” to the bot, known as NiCoLA-B.
The robot can test around 300,000 compounds a day, which is three times faster than other drug discovery robots. It is hoped that NiCoLA-B will be involved in up to 50 projects per year covering some 40 million potential drugs.
Novel Use of Sound Waves
NiCoLA-B is part of a system that uses acoustic displacement technology. Instead of working with pipettes to move small volumes of liquids from storage tubes to assay plates for testing, sound waves do the job.
Belief in the Power of Open Innovation
AZ has deals with Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council that will see its partners target numerous diseases where there is currently a substantial unmet need.
In a statement AZ said: “We are making the new robot available to external research partners through Open Innovation, a program that establishes research collaborations with scientists outside of AstraZeneca to advance the discovery and development of innovative medicines.”
The pharma company also used this announcement to reaffirm its belief that programs such as Open Innovation will become the new normal in medical research.
For more information about AstraZeneca’s Open Innovation program, click here to watch the short video on their open innovation page.
Add your Comment
[LOGIN FIRST] if you're already a member.fields are required.