Three Japanese companies to collaborate on biomarker database

The Daiichi Sankyo Co. announced this week that it will be joining Takeda Pharmaceutical Limited and Astellas Pharma Inc. in researching the development of a biomarker database.

This collaborative project will facilitate growth in drug discovery practices. All three companies will be working to build the database from data samples from volunteers.

The announcement also notes that this data is commonly used and often required for carrying out clinical studies. The database will consist of information on metabolite and protein biological markers. Biomarkers consists of information that is able to be measured and used to assess biological processes.

Volunteer samples will be collected by a laboratory that is associated with Leiden University in the Netherlands, under the direction of Dr. Thomas Hankemeier. Information taken from these samples will also serve development within each company’s areas of focus which include: oncology, central nervous system diseases, immunology, gastroenterology and others.

Despite the wide use of biomarkers in clinical studies, there is a lack of healthy biomarker samples collected on a global scale. The major purpose of healthy samples is to compare to patients that show preclinical or clinical stages of diseases and conditions.