Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, have entered into a three-year agreement to collaborate on osteoarthritis research aimed at identifying new disease modifying therapies. Under the terms of the agreement, GlaxoWellcome Inc. will make annual payments to Rush, and Rush will grant GlaxoWellcome exclusive first rights for worldwide licensing of patentable discoveries resulting from the research collaboration. Rush will receive royalties on any therapeutic and diagnostic products that are marketed. Osteoarthritis is caused by the gradual self-destruction of cartilage, the tough yet elastic tissue that covers the ends of bones and serves as a shock absorber for joints.
Cartilage can last a lifetime of running, walking, sitting and standing.
But for an estimated 16 million Americans with osteoarthritis, cartilage eventually deteriorates, causing pain and stiffness in knees, hips and other joints. This collaborative arrangement is aimed to support investigations simultaneously in academia and industry and provides us a unique capability to concentrate our many research endeavors toward a common goal. In concert with GlaxoWellcome's research efforts in osteoarthritis this partnership will accelerate drug discovery for the treatment of this disease.