Collaborative Working
Primary research at Warwick covers wide range of areas, in particular depression, pain, falls, fractures, cardiac arrest, intensive care and public mental health. Our secondary research also addresses key NHS priorities. A key aspect of our research is collaborative research, working with partners in the healthcare sector, industry and other academic institutions
Warwick researchers established a technology appraisal group Warwick Evidence which produces health technology assessment reports, mostly for NICE.
Warwick research has established the importance of parenting in child development and it has highlighted wellness as an important outcome from health and social care interventions. The Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale is established as the brand leader for measuring wellness. Our research has made the transition from child to adult mental health care a national and international priority.
We established the West Midlands (South) Health Innovation and Education Cluster as part of which £1.7 million has been invested in 17 locally led projects with the aim of bringing innovation into practice. Warwick was also vital in forming the West Midlands Academic Health Sciences Network.
Click on the links below for information on collaborative research taking place at Warwick:
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Collaboration with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
University of Warwick formed a strategic partnership with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) in 2011 to support joined long –term research. This collaboration has resulted in research of direct relevance to improving the quality of health and social care and it had substantial influence on policy and practice.
Global impact
The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) was established in 1898, making it the oldest institution, globally, dedicated to the field of tropical medicine. LSTM’s strategy is to focus on maximising the impact of applied health service research on some of the traditional ‘big’ diseases of resource poor countries, e.g. malaria, TB, malnutrition and sleeping sickness.
The Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group (collaboration between University of Warwick and the LSTM) works closely with the WHO and others in preparing systematic reviews of tropical infectious diseases that directly influence policy globally.
Science City Research Alliance
Science City Research Alliance (SCRA) is a collaboration between the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick. With the budget of £55 million it is a key component of Warwick Medical School approach to impact. The SCRA is aimed at delivering a vibrant knowledge-led economy in the West Midlands by delivering new models of partnership with the local industry, particularly with small and medium sized businesses. Among others it enabled capital investment into a new, state of the art clinical trials unit to support applied health research.
Commercialising Intellectual Property
Warwick Ventures Limited (WVL) is a whole owned subsidiary commercialising innovations resulting from research of the University. It offers advice and services that support academics working on innovations and it works closely with industry via specialist commercialisation managers linking business and investors to the University’s intellectual property.
WVL supports technology development and protects the intellectual property resulting from it. It is responsible for licensing, as well as creating spinout companies.
Two important healthcare technologies that have been patented and commercialised with WVL are:
- Kingmark used worldwide, making hip replacement surgery safer, quicker and more preciseTrue
- CPRTM developed with industrial partners to correct errors in their resuscitation monitoring devices
Partnership with Industry - Neurosolutions
Neurosolutions is a successful partnership between University of Warwick and industry. It aims to develop new drugs for neurological disorders and commercialise them.
Based on electrophysiological research conducted at the University of Warwick, Neurosolutions was found as a spin-out company in 2001. As well as developing its own novel compounds, Neurosolutions provides specialised translational biomedical research services to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries to facilitate preclinical drug development of new strategies to treat neurological disorders.
In 2005, Neurosolutions floated on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) as Neurodiscovery. This financially supported the in-house clinical development of two new compounds. The first one is NSL-043 and it can help patients with neuropathic pain. The second one is NSL-101 which is effective for dental pain.
Neurosolutions is a profit-making contract research organisation with 15 full-time staff based in the UK and in Montreal. It has annual revenues averaging £1.4 million per annum and has earned around £7.5 million in contracts from the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries since its launch.
Intellectual property
Research conducted at Neurosolutions led to the creation of intellectual property and two patents were granted. Neurosolutions undertook all preclinical development of compounds before taking public investment from Australia and floating on the ASX in 2005 to support clinical development of NSL-043 for neuropathic pain.
Contract research
Neurosolutions undertakes a great deal of research financed by its commercial partners. With a growing reputation and increased demand for services from North America Neurosolutions expanded its operations with the creation of Cerebrasol (in Montreal) as a sister company in 2010.
Neurosolutions has provided expert translational neuroscience services to over 100 industrial clients worldwide since its foundation. Clients include major pharmaceutical companies, such as:
- GSK
- Pfizer
- Astra Zeneca
- Merck
Most of the work undertaken for these companies is confidential and therefore it is not possible to outline all aspects of the research.
Commercial impact: Promoting Development of new Biotechnology Companies
Neurosolutions has supported the development of 5 new biotechnology companies. For example, proof-of-concept studies on leptin mimetics for obesity and compounds for pain were undertaken for Cambridge Biotechnology. Neurosolutions also performed extensive pre-clinical proof-of-concept data on anti-Nerve Growth Factor antibodies and their utility for pain for the Dutch/UK company Pangenetics.