Debiopharm and Aurigene enter licensing pact for onco pathway inhibitor
This article was originally published in Scrip
Swiss group Debiopharm and Aurigene Discovery Technologies, a subsidiary of Dr Reddy's Laboratories, have entered into an 'option' and exclusive worldwide licence agreement for the development and commercialisation of Debio 1142, a novel inhibitor of an undisclosed oncology pathway.
The Debio 1142 project aims to develop inhibitors targeting a pathway, which plays "essential roles" in various solid tumours, including resistance to chemotherapy, said Dr Rolland-Yves Mauvernay, president and founder of Debiopharm.
Finer details on Debio 1142 were not immediately available, though the two partners had last year said that they had started IND-enabling studies on another candidate, Debio 0617, also an inhibitor of an undisclosed oncology pathway. Debio 0617 is expected to enter clinical development in 2012. Both companies had also signed an exclusive worldwide license agreement, excluding the territories of Japan and the rest of Asia, to develop and commercialise Debio 0617.
Debiopharm and Aurigene had in 2006 formed a research collaboration to identify and develop compounds for two innovative immuno-oncology targets. In November 2008, Aurigene reported that its fragment-based drug delivery technology platform had generated potent leads against the target.
Established in 2002, Bangalore-based Aurigene currently has 10 drug discovery collaborations and a pipeline of 20 discovery programmes in various stages. Last year it had formed an alliance with the Danish startup, Pcovery, for antifungal discovery research and with Ortho Biotech Oncology Research and Development, a division of Janssen Pharmaceuticals, for lead generation against targets in the oncology segment in 2008. In 2009, Dr Reddy’s had transferred its drug discovery operations in Hyderabad to Aurigene, as part of a revamp of its research set-up.