Monash, Schering buddy up to research male disorders

Monash University and big German pharmaceutical company Schering AG have announced a collaborative research and licensing agreement to develop new therapies for prostate disease, male infertility, and new male contraceptives.

Under the agreement, Schering help fund early-stage research projects at the Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development, and Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research for at least the next two years.

Monash and Prince Henry's research teams will collaborate with Schering's own researchers to develop new drugs for male reproductive disorders, and new male contraceptives.

The agreement gives Schering the option to commercialise any promising discoveries that emerge from research at the two Monash institutes.

Prof Evan Simpson, director of the Prince Henry's Institute, said the alliance recognised the "globally significant research expertise" of the two Australian research institutes in the fields of prostate disease and male reproductive health.

Simpson said that, among other things, the alliance would help to fund a research project by Prof Gail Risbridger's team at Monash on the role of oestrogen in suppressing benign prostate hyperplasia.

The two institutes are studying men with a rare disorder that prevents them making oestrogen, or with defective oestrogen receptors, causing them to develop benign prostate hyperplasia. The oestrogen receptor is a promising target for oestrogen-mimicking drugs to treat benign prostate hyperplasia, a common disorder in aging males.

Schering is also funding research by Prof David de Kretser at Monash and Dr Robert McLachlan at Prince Henry's to identify genes involved in sperm development, as potential targets for a new male contraceptive.

Using chemical mutagens on male germline cells, they have created a genetic library of hundreds of mutations, which they are now screening to identify genes involved in sperm formation. The same genes may also throw light on the causes of male infertility.

McLachlan's group, which is working on a male equivalent of the female contraceptive pill, is investigating genes involved in the signalling pathways that regulate spermiation, the final phase of in spermatogenesis. Disrupting these signals is one of the most promising approaches to male contraception.