G. Richter Plc and UP: Research, education and innovation collaboration
The recent agreement taken by the Gedeon Richter Plc and the UP aims at the successful operation of an outstanding scientific workshop. The document about the collaboration was signed by Erik Bogsch, CEO of the pharmaceutical company Richter and Dr. József Bódis, rector of the University of Pécs on the occasion of inaugurating the brand new behavioural research unit in Kővágószőlős called Endre Grastyán Research Centre.
Gedeon Richter Plc received the UP Pro Patronage award for the year 2013. For Richter, scientific and research cooperations established with national universities and academic institutions are of a great strategic importance. In addition to the scientific and R+D activities of the universities, innovation and research utilization are becoming more and more crucial, due to their importance in the general evaluation of higher educational institutions. Therefore, for the UP as the largest employer of Pécs it is of primary interest to use the local intellectual potential to the fullest in the knowledge industry.
The scientific cooperation between Richter and the UP represents a new stage in establishing a behavioural research unit that meets all the ethical norms and strict standards at international level.
The newly founded Endre Grastyán Research Centre will enable us to examine higher brain functions of monkeys. This way, medical treatment of one of the most common health issues of our time, dementia would be possible here. Dementia is a serious public health problem, affecting approximately 7 million people in Europe and 160 000 people in Hungary. According to scientific forecasts, it stands a high chance that by 2050, the number of patients fighting with dementia will be over 100 million.
Since it is a very difficult therapeutic area to explore, there exists no adequate therapy for the disease yet. The reason for this is that it is about the disturbance of higher brain functions which is only possible to investigate by the proper examination of primates' behaviour - without any invasive intervention.
Within the framework of the recent collaboration, Richter's contribution is in providing the infrastructure, while the university secures the necessary scientific background and knowledge of primate studies. Richter creates modern working conditions that meet the EU standards and undertakes the continuous operation of the Research Centre. The scientific results of the new unit will be useful for the Gedeon Richter Plc, the UP and for the entire international research community as well. The collaboration stands as another great example in terms of domestic innovation between the industrial and the academic areas.