A leading Japanese drugs company has signed a £5.2 million deal with Scottish Biomedical, the company set up by leading Scottish universities to promote research in the medical sciences.
Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co Ltd's research and development agreement will help set up a research laboratory at Scottish Biomedical's state-of-the-art premises on the West of Scotland science park.
Stephen Hammond, chief executive of Scottish Biomedical, said: "By creating a dedicated on-site laboratory with state of the art equipment and access to some of the best research brains, we can offer Kyorin the best in research facilities with efficient, cost-effective project management, vital for a complex R&D programme."
Glasgow and Strathclyde universities have hailed the deal as international recognition for the research strengths of the Glasgow School of Respiratory Science. The school claims to be the first pan-city organisation in the UK to bring together scientists and clinicians from universities and hospitals to develop new treatments for respiratory diseases.
The research leaders will include Nigel Pyne of Strathclyde's department of physiology and pharmacology and Miles Houslay and Mandy MacLean of Glasgow's institute of biomedical and life sciences, who will work with staff from Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt and Paisley universities.
The researchers plan to use molecular and cell approaches linked to clinical studies to create medicines to treat allergies and inflammatory disease.
Colin Suckling, Strathclyde's vice-principal, said a number of highly successful research partnerships between Scottish universities and Japanese companies were already under way.