The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences is partnering with major pharmaceutical companies to explore the impacts of new drugs on the liver.

The initiative, called the Drug-induced Liver Injury Simulation Initiative, is a partnership between the Hamner and stakeholders including Amgen, AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), Janssen Research & Development LLC, Merck (NYSE: MRK), Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Sanofi.

DILI-sim, chaired by Paul Watkins, director of the Hamner-University of North Carolina Institute for Drug Safety Sciences, will provide a forum for the companies to share knowledge and experiences related to liver injury. The goal is to create safer drugs in the future.