Sanofi to advance its internal kinese program
Hannah Blake
pharmaphorum
French drug giant, Sanofi, is to partner with drug discovery company and oncology pharmacology service provider, Oncodesign, in a US $165 million alliance. This strategic research collaboration will allow Sanofi to exclusively apply Oncodesign’s Nanocyclix(R) technology to several of its kinase target programs, in order to find new kinase inhibitor drugs for a range of therapeutic indications.
Nanocyclix(R) is a proprietary medicinal chemistry technology and research platform, which according to Oncodesign, is based on “macrocyclisation chemical methodology and knowledge that gives access to potent and selective kinase inhibitors based on shape complementarity in the ATP binding site of kinases”. In this way, unprecedented selectivity is achieved even among kinases with high homology.
“We are very pleased that Sanofi, a world leader amongst pharmaceutical companies, has selected Oncodesign as a partner for advancing their internal kinase programs. This agreement further validates the development of our company into a platform company with innovative technologies in medicinal chemistry and advanced oncological pharmacology."
Philippe Genne, Ph.D., chief executive officer and Oncodesign founder.
Sanofi is currently revamping its R&,D operations with an aim to bring new drugs to market by 2015. The drugmaker has been working with Oncodesign for a number of years – in 2009 the two companies collaborated on the development of a series of experimental tissue-based cancer models.
Related news:
Sanofi taps Oncodesign for kinase inhibitor platform (PM Live)
Reference links: