University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the US has formed a research collaboration with South Korea based Yuyu Pharma to develop drugs that could help people recover after a stroke.

Yuyu Pharma will develop drug candidates and UCLA researchers will conduct preclinical trials that could lead to further development of new compounds.

Leading the research for UCLA are Istvan Mody, a distinguished professor of neurology; Varghese John, a professor of neurology and the principal investigator at the Drug Discovery Lab at UCLA; and Dr. S. Thomas Carmichael, chair of the UCLA department of neurology.

“This partnership focuses on a common and major unmet need in clinical medicine, stroke recovery,” Carmichael said. “It combines the drug development expertise of Yuyu Pharma and leading-edge research from UCLA that will identify a novel target for stroke recovery.”

Yuyu Pharma has an exclusive option agreement to license and commercialize the drug candidates for the treatment of stroke recovery. The agreement was led by the UCLA Technology Development Group, which manages UCLA’s intellectual property and spearheads partnerships with private industry to commercialize UCLA research.