Print“The creative terms of this deal enable Abide to focus the components of the drug discovery continuum that we do best, says Alan Ezekowitz, president and CEO of Abide.”
Abide Therapeutics entered into a strategic collaboration with Celgene to discover and develop new drugs in inflammation and immunology. The partners will use Abide’s technology to selectively target serine hydrolases, one of the largest enzyme families involved in regulating human physiology.
Celgene will pay Abide $50 million upfront plus take a small equity stake in the San Diego-based biotech. It has also retained an exclusive option to acquire the company. Abide will get additional payments if Celgene exercises its option to license the rest of the world rights on the first two products that reach the clinic. It is also eligible to receive additional milestone payments based on the successful development of those programs.
Under the collaboration, Abide will apply its technology platform, which can selectively and near-universally target the more than 200 members of the serine hydrolase ‘superfamily,’ to discover new therapeutic targets and drug candidates for the treatment of inflammation and immunological disorders. Serine hydrolases are validated but have been little explored as drug targets. They play a key regulatory role in human physiological processes, such as regulating CNS signaling, digestion, metabolism, inflammation, blood clotting, and life cycle of viruses and pathogens.
Abide has created a proprietary platform, based on technology developed at The Scripps Research Institute that specifically targets serine hydrolases with selective small molecules. The ability to target and modulate serine hydrolases has potential to develop new medicines in many therapeutic areas.
Included in the collaboration is Abide's most advanced compound, AB101131, which is expected to enter first human studies in 2015. Abide expects to generate another 3-4 developmental candidates during the term of the collaboration.
“This collaboration is a wonderful opportunity for Abide to focus in a therapeutic area that is ideal to explore the full potential of our therapeutic engine. Furthermore, this relationship will support Abide with Celgene's global expertise in discovery, development and commercialization of novel disease-altering therapies,” says Alan Ezekowitz, president and CEO of Abide Therapeutics. “The creative terms of this deal enable Abide to focus the components of the drug discovery continuum that we do best.”
For Celgene, the deal follows its strategy of research collaborations with an option to license the ensuing discoveries or to buy the company at a preset time. In 2013, Celgene struck many such deals, including option to license deals with Agios Pharmaceuticals and OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, and option to buy the company deal with Acetylon Pharmaceuticals and PharmAkea.
March 03, 2014
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-celgene_taps_abide_therapeutics_for_enzyme_targeting_technology.html
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