UCLA partners with Yuyu Pharma for MS treatment

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) has forged a new partnership with a South Korean pharmaceutical company to develop a new multiple sclerosis treatment, according to a press release. 

The partnership between UCLA and Yuyu Pharma was made possible by the UCLA Technology Development Group, the goal of which will be to test the safety and efficacy of drugs that could be used to treat the disease. 

“We are excited that Yuyu Pharma chose UCLA as its first academic institution partner in the U.S.,” Amir Naiberg, UCLA associate vice chancellor and the CEO and president of the Technology Development Group, said.

Multiple sclerosis, which is an autoimmune and neurodegenerative disease, results in damage to the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, interfering with the nervous system’s ability to transmit signals. It most commonly begins to manifest in ages 20-50 and is twice as likely to affect women than men. The National MS Society reports that roughly 2.3 million people suffer from the MS worldwide.

“Many patients with MS face significant burdens, and we hope our collaboration with UCLA can someday help them with both their physical and mental health,” Robert Wonsang Yu, CEO of Yuyu, said.

The group has already made good progress, having determined which drug candidates may prove useful in patients with relapsing-remitting or progressive multiple sclerosis.

“I am very excited to advance my laboratory’s basic discovery of a novel approach to repair damage in the brain in multiple sclerosis,” Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl, director of the UCLA Multiple Sclerosis Program, said. “Our team at UCLA in partnership with Yuyu aims to bring this to patients by sharing our unique and complementary areas of expertise.” 

Funding is made possibly the the UCLA Innovation Fund, which brings funds to the university’s technologies to help connect innovations to industry-level distribution.