Natural Products Discovery Institute Signs First Major Deal

Dec. 21, 2011 - PRLog -- DOYLESTOWN, PA (December 2011). The Natural Products Discovery Institute (NPDI) has signed its first major deal to allow qualified researchers to access the formerly private Merck Natural Products Collection that it received as a donation from the company this past summer. Dr. David Kingston, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Virginia Tech, funded by a grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) of the National Institutes of Health, will be the first outside researcher to gain access to this world-class collection of plant natural products.

NPDI has signed an agreement with Virginia Tech that will allow the screening of thousands of its samples by the Kingston group in search of novel anti-cancer and anti-malarial agents. “I am delighted to be able to work with this superb collection and look forward to discovering new bioactive compounds,” said Kingston.

The NPDI was established in June 2011 as a result of an unprecedented gift by Merck and Company of its entire U.S. Natural Products Library and the Schering-Plough Legacy Culture Collection to the Hepatitis B Foundation’s research affiliate, the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research. Together, this is one of the largest, most diverse, and most carefully developed natural products collections in the world.  

“I'm gratified that we are bringing new life to this priceless natural products collection by initiating our first collaborative project with Dr. Kingston,” said Dr. Michael Goetz.  Dr. Goetz is leading the NPDI and its team of researchers, who are experienced with the microbiology, chemistry and curatorship of this collection.

About the Natural Products institute (NPDI): The NPDI, a division of the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research (IHVR), is dedicated to making productive use of one of the world’s greatest collections of natural products for human benefit and to advance the goals of the Hepatitis B Foundation and its research affiliate, the IHVR. The NPDI will be a long- term resource for the discovery and development of products of biological origin and will provide industry standard follow-up chemistry to support bioassay driven structure identification and elucidation. To learn more, visit http://www.npdi-us.org

About the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research (IHVR): The IHVR is an independent nonprofit research institute established in 2003 by the Hepatitis B Foundation to conduct its discovery research and nurture translational biotechnology in an environment conducive to interaction, collaboration and focus. To learn more, visit http://www.ihvr.org