In a new collaboration, ShangPharma Innovation, Inc. (SPII) is providing funding and other support to scientists at UC San Francisco (UCSF) to accelerate the development of promising life science inventions.

The partnership helps advance a major new initiative at UCSF to bridge academic research with industrial development. Part of this effort, which SPII will support, involves backing preclinical research to validate drug targets and to develop programs to discover new drugs.

Drugs that UCSF and SPII determine to be promising in preclinical studies can then be readied for clinical trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy in patients.

The collaboration agreement anticipates that SPII will provide several years of funding to carry out R&D in UCSF laboratories. SPII also will commit to spend additional amounts each year during the term of the collaboration to purchase Contract Research Organization (CRO) services in support of the projects being conducted by SPII and UCSF.

CRO services will be provided by Shanghai ChemPartner Co. Ltd. (ChemPartner). SPII and UCSF will share in future value created through this innovative partnership.