UCLA has formed a research collaboration with South Korea-based Yuyu Pharma to develop drugs that could help people recover after a stroke.

Yuyu will develop drug candidates and UCLA researchers will conduct preclinical trials that could lead to further development of new compounds.

Leading the research for UCLA are Istvan Mody, a distinguished professor of neurology; Varghese John, a professor of neurology and the principal investigator at the Drug Discovery Lab at UCLA; and Dr. S. Thomas Carmichael, chair of the UCLA department of neurology.

There is currently no medical therapy that promotes recovery in the brain after it has been injured in a stroke. An effective treatment would not only aid people recovering from a stroke but also provide relief for their caregivers, who bear a significant long-term economic burden.

“This partnership focuses on a common and major unmet need in clinical medicine, stroke recovery,” Carmichael said. “It combines the drug development expertise of Yuyu Pharma and leading-edge research from UCLA that will identify a novel target for stroke recovery.”

Robert Wonsang Yu, CEO of Yuyu Pharma, said, “We are honored to be working with UCLA and the distinguished researchers to help develop a treatment for stroke recovery. We at Yuyu look forward to working together to help bring this innovation to patients who need it most.”

Yuyu Pharma has an exclusive option agreement to license and commercialize the drug candidates for the treatment of stroke recovery. The agreement was led by the UCLA Technology Development Group, which manages UCLA’s intellectual property and spearheads partnerships with private industry to commercialize UCLA research.

UCLA and Yuyu also recently formed a partnership to investigate drugs that could help treat multiple sclerosis.

“This agreement represents TDG’s expanding business activity and we will be actively involved in building this collaboration through sponsored research and a joint steering committee,” said Amir Naiberg, UCLA associate vice chancellor and the CEO and president of the Technology Development Group.