Date: 2014-05-27
Type of information: Collaboration agreement
Compound:
Company: BioVersys (Switzerland) University of Lille (France) GSK (UK)
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Type agreement: collaboration
Action mechanism:
Disease: tuberculosis
Details: * On May 27 2014, BioVersys announced a collaboration with GSK to develop a preclinical candidate against tuberculosis, funded by the Wellcome Trust. The collaboration will utilize BioVersys’ award-winning innovative TRIC technology that enables the discovery of Transcriptional Regulator Inhibitory Compounds. The project, built upon a very long history of tuberculosis research in Lille, will advance molecules that reactivate the efficacy of established tuberculosis therapies. The teams of Professors Nicolas Willand, Alain Baulard and Benoît Deprez have significantly contributed to the compounds relevant to the project and were the first to discover the target regulator in tuberculosis. Marc Gitzinger, CEO of BioVersys commented: “This collaboration with GSK is a validation of the innovative and relevant nature of the TRIC technology. We look forward to collaborating with GSK’s scientists and the French consortium to advance our development activities.” Dr. Alain Baulard, Director of Research, Institut Pasteur de Lille: “This project is a major development of our drug discovery on rejuvenation of Ethionamide activity, a concept that we have been advancing since 2001.” BioVersys was founded in 2008 as a Spin-off of the ETH-Zurich. The company has built up an innovative technology to screen and develop drugs that act more upstream than conventional antibiotics. BioVersys\' compounds will be used in combination with an existing antbiotic, thereby renewing efficacy as well as intellectual property for the established drug. For its TB project, BioVersys has joined forces with the University of Lille consortium in 2013, by agreeing on a full licensing and collaboration agreement. BioVersys was supported by Eisei GmbH in this transaction.
Financial terms: The Wellcome Trust is funding the development activities as part of a pre-existing collaboration with GSK towards finding treatments for diseases largely affecting low-income countries. The financial terms of the agreement are not disclosed.
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