Date: 2015-06-02
Type of information: Exercise of an option agreement
Compound: selective inhibitors of a kinase target selected by UCB
Company: Oncodesign (France) UCB (Belgium)
Therapeutic area: Neurodegenerative diseases - Neurological diseases
Type agreement: R&D
licensing
Action mechanism: Nanocyclix® is Oncodesign’s proprietary medicinal chemistry technology based on small molecule macrocyclisation that provides solutions to some of the biggest challenges in kinase inhibitor research i.e. providing access to potent and highly selective kinase inhibitors that can readily cross the Blood-Brain-Barrier.
Disease:
Details: * On November, 13, 2013, Oncodesign, a drug discovery company and oncology pharmacology service provider, has announced that it has entered into a research collaboration and exclusive license option with UCB, a global biopharmaceutical leader specialised in neurology and immunology. The collaboration will leverage the respective expertise of Oncodesign and UCB to bring innovative therapeutic solutions to patients suffering from neurodegenerative disorders. Oncodesign will apply its Nanocyclix technology on a kinase target selected by UCB with the aim of discovering potent and selective inhibitors that cross the blood brain barrier.
Financial terms: Under the terms of the agreement, UCB is granted an exclusive option to license the joint program (with worldwide development and commercialization rights), upon successfully reaching certain discovery milestones. Oncodesign is entitled to funding for the program\'s research activities, and upon exercise of the license option, a program access fee and additional research, development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments for the development of molecules in two or more indications, and tiered royalties on net sales.
Latest news: * On June 2, 2015, Oncodesign announced that it has successfully reached a major milestone in its joint discovery collaboration with UCB that applies to Oncodesign’s Nanocyclix® technology on a kinase target selected by UCB. This collaboration was initiated in October 2013 and aims to leverage the respective expertise of Oncodesign and UCB to bring innovative therapeutic solutions to patients suffering from neurological disorders.
Under the terms of the agreement, UCB will now obtain worldwide development and commercialization rights to the compounds. In addition to the technology access fee, Oncodesign is also eligible to receive further research funding, potential product-related development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties.
“In just over a year, the progress achieved in our early research collaboration has convinced UCB to take a full license on the program and enter into an additional multi-year research program. We are very excited to continue our partnership which aims to bring innovative solutions for patients living with neurological diseases, which represents an area with high unmet need for a large patient population. Identifying inhibitors that are potent and selective - to avoid side effects for the intended chronic use - and that readily enter into the brain after oral application have been major challenges for many years in kinase research. The current license exercised by UCB further validates Nanocyclix as a “next generation” kinase inhibitor technology that allows to tackle kinases in notoriously difficult fields, said Jan Hoflack, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Oncodesign.
