Peking University, Dec. 3, 2010: Recently, Peking University and AstraZeneca, a transnational company engaged in the research, development, manufacture and supply of medicines, entered into a cooperative research contract. The contract with an initial duration of five years aims to pool scientific resources in the pharmaceutical and academic fields and thus to provide better medical care to patients with diseases of diabetes, obesity, atherosclerotic cardiovascular, seeking to offer treatments catering to Chinese patients' needs and attributes.

Diabetes, obesity and atherosclerotic cardiovascular are severely threatening human health. The Epidemiological Investigation of 2003 showed that there were 285 million diabetics worldwide and the number might have soared to 438 million by the year of 2030. China has the highest number of diabetics in the world with an estimated 92.4 million sufferers. Obesity, another major metabolic disease, is on its way to become a worldwide epidemic disease. In China, the incidence of obesity also rapidly increases every year. A survey on "Overview of Overweight and Obesity in China" shows that there are 280 million overweight and obese people nationwide. Obesity is an independent disease, yet it is also the causative factor of many other diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke and many types of cancer. Because of its serious effects, obesity has been listed as the 5th commonest risk factor which threatens human health by the World Health Organization.