Duke-NUS Medical School (Duke-NUS) in Singapore and IPGaia, Inc. (IPG) in Japan have signed an agreement to jointly advance drug discovery and development from academia to industry, to bring the benefits of translational research to patients.

Through this partnership, Duke-NUS will propose drug targets to IPG, which will, in turn, identify and develop lead compounds with the goal of licensing clinic-ready candidates to pharmaceutical companies.

The collaboration brings together IPG’s expertise in commercial research and development and its industry network with Duke-NUS’ strong capabilities in world-class discovery research in areas of global importance.  

The agreement with Duke-NUS is IPG’s sixth master agreement with academic partners around the world including the University of California San Diego and La Jolla Institute for Immunology from the United States of America, as well as Riken and Tokyo Medical and Dental University from Japan. Through these partnerships, IPG aims to accelerate the creation of innovative medicines and contribute to solving global social issues by reducing healthcare costs and expanding access to medicine. To fast-track the development of high-quality medicines that need to be delivered to patients facing unmet medical needs, IPG will invite global academia, pharmaceutical companies, and other entities to submit promising drug leads.