Media

HKU and the Servier Research Group join hands to develop a new line of pharmaceutical products in the field of osteogenesis

09 Aug 2010

The University of Hong Kong announced today (August 9) that it has collaborated with the Servier Research Group ("Servier"), the second largest French pharmaceutical company, on the research and development of drugs for osteogenesis.

A research group from the Department of Chemistry of the University, led by Professor Chi-Ming Che, will design and synthesize new compounds having high therapeutic potential based on the invention by Professor Che and his team under the auspices of the Area of Excellence Program on the Institute of Molecular Technology for Drug Discovery and Synthesis. The research group will work closely with Servier to screen the biological activities of these compounds. Servier will develop, manufacture and market the corresponding pharmaceutical products.

The objective and scope of the collaboration
The objective of this collaboration is to develop a new line of pharmaceutical products for osteogenesis. Professor Che, with the assistance from Professor Paul Vanhoutte and the BioPharmaceutical Development Centre [BDC] of the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, will design and synthesize new compounds and will perform preliminary screening of biological activities. Servier will further investigate the efficacy of these compounds and conduct subsequent pharmaceutical development.

Background of HKU Research Group and the Servier Research Group
The principle investigator, Professor Chi-Ming Che, possesses expertise in Synthetic Chemistry, including Coordination Chemistry and Organic Synthesis, and Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry. He has developed a panel of new efficient chemical methods whereby bioactive organic compounds with diverse structures and complexity can be readily obtained by metal catalyzed organic reactions with high atom economy.

Servier is the leading independent French pharmaceutical company, established in 1954 by its founder, Jacques Servier, M.D., Pharm.D. The group is established in 140 countries and 86% of Servier products are prescribed outside France. The turnover rose to 3.6 billion Euros in 2009; 25% of Servier's turnover is invested in Research and Development. The Servier Group counts 19 International Centers of Therapeutic Research, and its principal therapeutic research orientations are cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neuropsychiatric disorders, cancer, and osteoarticular diseases. More information is available at: https://www.servier.com/.

About HKU
Founded in 1911, HKU is the territory's oldest university, with a long heritage of academic excellence and service to the community. Today, HKU is a world-class comprehensive research-led university, with close to a hundred of its faculty ranked by the Institute for Scientific Information as being among the world's top 1% of scientists.

With a strong international outlook and a tradition of English language instruction, HKU attracts the best academic staff and the brightest students from the territory and around the world. The University is committed to nurturing talent and leaders for both the local and global community and to cultivating internationalism on campus. We strongly support international academic collaboration, and staff and student exchanges at all levels, with over 400 higher education institutions. For more about HKU, visit: https://www.hku.hk

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Trinni Choy (Assistant Director (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2606 email: pychoy@hku.hk or Ms Melanie Wan (Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2600 email: melwkwan@hku.hk.