AstraZeneca, Shenzhen Uni To Study Chronic Kidney Disease

AstraZeneca and Shenzhen University Health Science Center will conduct pre-clinical research on chronic kidney disease, a large and growing unmet medical need in China.

AsianScientist (Mar. 31, 2014) – AstraZeneca will collaborate with Shenzhen University Health Science Center to conduct pre-clinical research on chronic kidney disease, a large and growing unmet medical need in China.

Under the terms of the agreement, scientists from Shenzhen University Health Science Center’s Nephrology and Urology Center will work in collaboration with teams from AstraZeneca’s Innovation Center China in Shanghai. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

As a priority, the partners will focus on diabetic nephropathy, damage to the kidneys caused by diabetes, which, in severe cases, can lead to kidney failure. While not all diabetes patients have kidney damage, it is growing at an exponential rate in China. Between 2010 and 2025, the number of patients who experience kidney failure as a result of diabetic complications is expected to increase nearly 80 percent in China, to over 18 million patients.

Director of Shenzhen University Health Science Center and one of China’s foremost kidney disease experts, Professor Youfei Guan, said: “Chronic kidney disease is growing rapidly in China and caring for advanced chronic kidney disease is extremely costly.”

“We also see this program not just as an opportunity to help us discover new treatments but also a unique possibility for joint talent development.” commented Xiaolin Zhang, head of AstraZeneca’s Innovation Center China.

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Source: AstraZeneca; Photo: MilitaryHealth/Flickr/CC.

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