Druggable Targets and Materials to Enable Soft Connective Tissue Repair

This campaign has been commissioned by an international Japanese pharmaceutical company who combat diseases with a combination of ground‑breaking technology and biology, with an extensive track record of academic collaboration. They are seeking a solution that enables connective soft tissue repair, via either structural materials or druggable targets.

Specific Points of Interest:

• Therapeutic target activating, recruiting or proliferating endogenous MSCs/ progenitor cells
• Injectable glue or filler to enable soft connective tissue repair, especially meniscus and intervertebral disc
• Mammalian animal models with defects or degeneration in meniscus and intervertebral discs that mimic human pathology

If possible, a combination of the above is preferable. 

Out of Scope:

• Cell therapy
• Non-patentable scaffolds (e.g. collagen, hyaluronic acid, PEG)
• Immune‑mediated disease‑related research, such as animal models of adjuvant induced arthritis or collagen type II‑induced arthritis are not of interest
• Research focused on muscle, skin, fibrous tissues and fat are not within scope

Stage of Development:

Ideally submitted solutions will be at the basic research, pre‑clinical or late pre‑clinical stages.

Submission Information:

Submission of one-page summaries of Research Projects, Technology Briefs, Academic Profiles, Centres of Excellence and Spin-Outs are encouraged. Alternatively, please fill out an application form available here.