Scientist awarded research grants of 4.6m

Professor Mark Pepys FRS has recently been awarded two grants by the Medical Research Council (MRC) totalling £4.6 million to support his translational research and development programme. The MRC's new Developmental Clinical Studies Scheme was introduced last year to support the development and initial clinical testing of new drugs. One of the first three awards made under the scheme has gone to Professor Pepys (UCL Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins), providing £3.84 million to fund the development of the compound he invented to inhibit C-reactive protein for the treatment of cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases. The other major interest of Professor Pepys and his team is amyloidosis, a rare and usually fatal illness. Pepys has most recently invented a new approach to the treatment of amyloid, comprising a combination of a small molecule drug he had previously developed and a monoclonal antibody. This invention was licensed to GlaxoSmithKline last year and is being actively developed for clinical studies. The MRC is supporting UCL's work on this treatment with a new research grant of £802,000 which continues the work of the MRC programme grant in this field that Professor Pepys has held continuously since 1979.