Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC)

Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC), a clinical stage bio-pharmaceutical company, is focused on improving standards of care for patients, through innovation in therapeutics and delivery. SPARC was formed in 2007 through a demerger from SUN PHARMA, a global leader in speciality generics. SPARC strives to build an enduring innovation engine built on strong scientific execution, high value analytics and aggressive portfolio management. The company’s in-house medicinal chemistry efforts directed against selective inhibition of BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase, have resulted in a clinical asset in Parkinson’s disease (PD), which is currently being evaluated in a PhII clinical trial. SPARC's therapeutic focus is in the area of oncology, neurology and immunology.

In 2022, UK DRI and SPARC launched a funding initiative to support early-stage translational therapeutics in neurodegeneration. The partnership supports postdoctoral research-level projects to undertake a three-year target validation programme in a UK DRI research group. This collaboration benefits from the expertise in neurodegenerative diseases held at the UK DRI and in-kind support from the state-of-the-art facilities from the institute, as well as SPARC’s internal capabilities in medicinal chemistry, unique expertise in certain targets and the company’s expertise in bringing therapeutic programs into the clinic. The partnership kicked-off with a research project led by UK DRI Emerging Leader and ARUK Research Fellow Dr Natalie Connor-Robson, from the UK DRI at Cardiff. This project seeks to understand the role of the endocytic pathway and leverages the rich datasets held at Cardiff and associated polygenic risk scores in Alzheimer’s disease.