Alexion Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of breakthrough therapies for patients with severe and life-threatening rare diseases, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have established the Alexion Rare Disease Innovation Fund for the advancement of research in rare disease.

“Collaborations between industry and academia are important to drive innovation for patients suffering from rare diseases and we look forward to working with Cincinnati Children’s to advance our research programs, which are focused on developing life-transforming therapies for patients with devastating disorders,” said Martin Mackay, Ph.D., executive vice president and global head of R&D at Alexion.

Alexion will have the opportunity to fund selected research programs through the Alexion Rare Disease Innovation Fund.  Following completion of the funded research programs, Alexion will have an exclusive option to enter into a licensing agreement for these programs.

The Alexion fund is a focused opportunity within Cincinnati Children’s broader Innovation Fund, which covers all therapeutic areas and technology types. Alexion will focus its selections based on the company’s specialty of developing new treatments for complex and rare diseases.

The company decided to collaborate with Cincinnati Children’s because of the medical center’s strength in rare- and complex-disease research. Research programs selected for the Alexion fund will receive funding commensurate with project development needs and based on projects reaching specific milestones.

Upon entering into any subsequent licensing agreement, Cincinnati Children’s will be eligible to receive certain development and commercial milestone payments, as well as royalties on product sales from Alexion. Alexion will have the primary responsibility for further clinical development and commercialization of products arising from the collaboration. The collaboration and Innovation Fund are managed by Cincinnati Children’s Center for Technology Commercialization.