Institut Pasteur Korea, Asan Medical Center and Center for Bio-imaging of New Drug development (C-BiND) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding seeking for various scientific collaborations with an aim to develop new therapeutics for infectious diseases and cancer, and to leverage bio imaging technologies in drug discovery research.
 
Three parties are partnering to advance the drug discovery capabilities of Korea in a global market. Under the term of the agreement, they will combine together the clinical research expertise of Asan Medical Center, the bio-imaging technology of Center for Bio-imaging of New Drug development (C-BiND) and the visual-based high throughput/content screening of Institut Pasteur Korea to accelerate drug discovery research. For strategic convergence of the R&D resources of each organization, a series of collaborative conferences and researcher exchange programs are planned.
 
Based on the joint research programs with Institut Pasteur Korea, Asan Medical Center is expected to build an international research network with the 32 institutes of the Institut Pasteur International Network, including the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France.
 
Additionally, fruitful discussions on the latest research findings in the field of cancer, bio imaging and infectious diseases followed during the Asan Medical Center – Institut Pasteur Korea Collaborative Symposium on Drug Discovery. The symposium covered various topics, such as “Establishment of Novel Assay System for Liver Cancer Therapy”, “Developing Novel Technologies for Bio Imaging Based Drug Discovery” and “Strategies to Tackle Influenza.”
 
Dr. Hakim Djaballah, CEO of Institut Pasteur Korea, said, “The collaboration with clinical experts of Asan Medical Center will help translate basic bench-research into bedside therapeutic interventions to treat disease. Working jointly, we will share ideas and thoughts on how best to help patients in Korea and globally.”
 
Dr. Chong Jai Kim, the chairman of Asan Institute for Life Science, said, “Throughout this collaboration, we are expecting to accelerate drug discovery and will try to position Asan Medical Center as one of the global standard research-oriented hospitals.”