Vanderbilt fills an R&D void left by Big Pharma cutbacks

While Big Pharma companies have been chopping at their own R&D shops while looking more often to outside academic experts to help them find the next blockbuster drug, Vanderbilt University has capitalized on the trend. Inking big deals with pharma giants Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY) and AstraZeneca ($AZN), Vanderbilt has emerged as a leading institution for central nervous system drug research and discovery by bringing a business-like approach to the lab. The announcement of Vanderbilt's latest partnership with AstraZeneca to develop drugs for brain diseases like Alzheimer's and schizophrenia comes only months after Vanderbilt said it would collaborate with Bristol-Myers to cultivate new therapies for Parkinson's disease. FierceBiotechResearch