Medanta-The Medicity and Duke Medicine finalized multiple agreements to establish the Medanta Duke Research Institute (MDRI) as a new joint venture company in India, fully realizing the vision for the creation of a world-class early phase clinical research facility at Medanta.
Medanta-The Medicity is a conglomeration of multi-super specialty institutes led by medical practitioners who are leaders in their respective fields from all over the world with the vision to reach the highest levels of excellence in medical care, education and research. An internationally-recognized academic health sciences system, Duke Medicine combines one of the nation’s premier health care delivery systems and School of Medicine, one of the largest biomedical research enterprises in the US, a leading School of Nursing, and the innovative Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore.
Representing Duke at the event were Robert M. Califf, vice chancellor for clinical research and director of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute; Robert Taber, Duke vice chancellor for corporate and venture development; John Sundy, director of the Duke Clinical Research Unit; and Krishna Udayakumar, director of Duke Medicine Global and faculty member of the Duke Global Health Institute.
“This collaboration with Duke is a landmark event for India and Medanta in the direction of developing a center of excellence. Our shared goal is the safe and rapid development of therapies targeted at significant health problems. We hope that our partnership will produce research that will enable development of drugs and devices to improve health in India and around the globe,” said Naresh Trehan, founder, chairman and managing director of Medanta-The Medicity.
“International collaboration is vital for both the future of medicine and for our economic well-being,” said Governor Beverly Perdue of North Carolina. “Today’s agreement is a giant step forward for the health of our people and it holds the promise of future economic benefits and jobs. I congratulate Duke and Medanta on their innovative partnership and their grand vision.”
“I am truly proud of the partnership Medanta-The Medicity and Duke Medicine have created today,” said Victor J. Dzau, chancellor for Health Affairs, Duke University, and CEO of Duke University Health System. “Ours is a shared vision of pursuing innovative approaches for the translation of clinical research into outcomes that serve the delivery of health care around the world, and MDRI stands as a testament to our commitment to making that happen.”
The MDRI facility will occupy a 27,000-square-foot space at Medanta-The Medicity comprising 60-beds and is expected to open in mid- April 2011. Tal Burt, previously associate professor for clinical research at Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School and director of the SingHealth Investigational Medicine Unit (IMU), serves as interim medical director for MDRI.
MDRI will leverage technologies and apply systems biology and molecular medicine to clinical research, with the goal of transforming the global framework for clinical development and evaluation of human biology, diseases, drugs and devices. The MDRI will adhere strictly to highest global standards for research quality as well as human subject protection in clinical studies.
See the press release by Duke Medicine News & Communications.
