Novo Nordisk, JDRF partner to discover and develop novel immunotherapies against T1D

The collaboration with Novo Nordisk will be run out of the company's newly opened Type 1 Diabetes Research and Development (R&D) Center in Seattle. The center, led by Dr. Matthias von Herrath, plans to employ 20 immunotherapy researchers working in Seattle supported by corporate R&D functions in Princeton, NJ and Denmark. The center's goal is to use translational research methods to rapidly move early-stage discovery projects in immunotherapy from animal models into small clinical exploratory trials in T1D.

"It is not a coincidence that we are opening our new Type 1 Diabetes Research and Development Center in Seattle at that same time that we announce a scientific partnership between our company and JDRF," said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, executive vice president and chief science officer at Novo Nordisk. "Our new R&D center is founded on the principle of reaching out to academia, biotechnology companies, and other key players in the international immunotherapy research community in order to join forces to develop the next treatment advance in the management of type 1 diabetes. At Novo Nordisk, our vision is to prevent, treat, and ultimately cure diabetes, and every collaboration down that path brings us closer to that goal.

SOURCE JDRF