Genelabs taps Taiwan expertise for hepatitis C
This article was originally published in Scrip
Genelabs Technologies has forged a basic research alliance with two Taiwanese partners that it hopes will speed up the development of novel candidate compounds for the treatment of hepatitis C.
The non-profit, government-affiliated National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) and the Taiwanese firm Genovate Biotechnology are to provide chemistry and biology expertise for a selected Genelabs project against a specific hepatitis C target. The US firm will contribute know-how and lead compounds against an existing target which the collaboration will use to discover and develop new drug candidates, in what Genelabs described as "a highly cost-efficient approach".
The NHRI carries out independent medical research in a variety of areas and is overseen by Taiwan's department of health, while Genovate's portfolio includes development of anticancer formulations and a domestically launched slow-release preparation of the antidiabetic glipizide. Genovate already holds rights in Asia (excluding Japan), Australia and New Zealand to Prestara (prasterone), Genelabs' synthetic dehydroepiandrosterone steroid for lupus erythematosus, which has faced delays coming to the US market.
Genelabs' hepatitis C research is concentrating on nucleoside and non-nucleoside inhibitors of NS5b polymerase, although the Californian firm is also investigating alternative viral targets. It has an ongoing alliance with Novartis to develop non-nucleoside inhibitors, although Gilead Sciences recently decided to end a similar collaboration for nucleoside-based inhibitors.