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Daiichi Sankyo Joins the DILI-sim Initiative

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – April 6, 2016 –Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. has agreed to become the newest member of The DILI-sim Initiative. Daiichi Sankyo, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a global pharmaceutical company dedicated to providing innovative products and services around the world, including the development of new and generic medicines and new methods of drug discovery and delivery. The organization is committed to addressing unmet medical needs in the areas of oncology, cardiovascular-metabolics, pain management, hypertension, and thrombotic disorders. Daiichi Sankyo now joins the DILI-sim consortium, comprised of current members AbbVie, Astellas, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen Research & Development, Merck, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Otsuka, Pfizer, and Takeda.

ABOUT THE DILI-SIM INITATIVE
The DILI-sim Initiative is a pre-competitive partnership between DILIsym Services, Inc. and a diverse set of stakeholders to develop a computational model that will predict whether new drug candidates will cause drug-induced liver injury (DILI) in patients. The goals of the Initiative are to improve patient safety, reduce the need for animal testing, and reduce the costs and time necessary to develop new drugs. The Initiative is led by Dr. Paul B. Watkins, Director of the University of North Carolina Institute for Drug Safety Sciences, located in the heart of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The vision for the DILI-sim Initiative over the next three years is for DILIsym® software to build upon its foundation as a key resource in the pharmaceutical industry’s preclinical toolbox by further optimizing and enhancing DILIsym® for the prediction of less frequent human DILI that may only become evident in late stage clinical development or post-marketing.