Oncodesign and Servier Reach a Key First Milestone in Their Strategic Partnership on LRRK2 Inhibitors for Parkinson’s Disease
17 Febbraio 2020 - 6:00PM
Business Wire
- First milestone is reached ahead of schedule, triggering
Success Payment for Oncodesign
- LRRK2 inhibition has major potential in the treatment of
Parkinson’s Disease
Regulatory News:
Servier, an independent international pharmaceutical company,
and Oncodesign (Paris:ALONC) (ALONC – FR0011766229), a french
biopharmaceutical company, have announced reaching an important
milestone in their strategic partnership on research and
development of potential drug candidates for Parkinson’s
Disease.
In March 2019, Servier and Oncodesign entered into a research
and development partnership involving the LRRK2 kinase inhibitors
derived from Oncodesign's proprietary Nanocyclix® platform, and
their potential to act as therapeutic agents against Parkinson's
disease. The partnership drew on the complementary expertise of
Servier and Oncodesign in the fields of neurodegenerative diseases
and macrocyclic kinase inhibitors.
Both companies today announce having reached a first important
milestone in the program. Next steps which are subject to further
milestone payments will validate the Nanocyclix® platform to have
the potential to deliver small molecule drugs as therapeutics
against Parkinson’s Disease. Oncodesign receives a first success
payment in the program of €1M. Over the life of the partnership,
Servier could pay Oncodesign up to €320M ($360M) in milestones
payments, excluding royalties. In addition, Oncodesign receives
approximatively €3 million in annual funding during the research
phase of the project.
Philippe Genne, Ph.D., CEO and founder of Oncodesign,
said: “After the selection a few weeks ago of our first
candidate drug inhibitor of RIPK2, this is this time a very good
news coming from our strategic collaboration with Servier. The
collaboration works perfectly and both teams are up to the
challenges. The results were obtained sooner than expected which
allowed us to reach our first Milestone several months in advance,
showing more than ever the important mastery of the Nanocyclix®
chemistry by our teams. We are very honored to collaborate
successfully with Servier.”
Jan Hoflack, PhD, Scientific Director at Oncodesign,
added: "Reaching this first important milestone in such a
challenging program speaks to the potential of the Nanocyclix®
series of molecules that we pursue: their potency and selectivity
within very small molecular weight compounds are ideal assets for
this difficult CNS program. It also speaks to the highly
collaborative approach between Servier and Oncodesign, with joint
expert teams that act in a very agile and open way to make rapid
progress. The next phase of the program is again a difficult
challenge, but we are all aligned to further advance this research
for the future benefit of patients.”
Christophe Thurieau, Executive Director, Servier Research
Institute, said: “We are very pleased with the rapid progress
we have made together with Oncodesign in this collaborative
program, with a very efficient and dynamic joint team, and look
forward to continuing success over the coming years to reach our
common goal of bringing a new treatment for patients who suffer
from the scourge of Parkinson's disease.”
About Parkinson's disease Parkinson’s disease (PD), the
most common neurodegenerative movement disorder, that affect
approximately 6.3 million people worldwide1. Clinical features
include bradykinesia, rigidity, and tremor, commonly named motor
symptoms. PD is characterized by progressive loss of dopaminergic
neurons and accumulation of aggregation of α-synuclein protein in
the brain. Only dopamine replacement therapy, which compensates for
dopamine neuronal loss, reduces with some efficacy motor symptoms
in PD patients, but does not stop or slow the neurodegenerative
process. At present, there are no proven neuroprotective or
neurorestorative therapies. Disease modification is thus the most
important objective in PD research & development today.
About the LRRK2 target Although PD is regarded as a
sporadic disorder with no clearly identified origin, LRRK2
mutations are associated with the highest risk of familial PD, and
increased levels of LRRK2 are also observed in sporadic patients.
Pathological characteristics and clinical symptoms are
indistinguishable between sporadic patients and patients with
familial disease and LRRK2 mutations. LRRK2 is a multidomain
protein which contains a core region with both GTPase and kinase
enzymatic activities where most pathogenic mutations are located.
LRRK2 inhibition represents a potential neuroprotective and
disease-modifying therapeutic principle for the treatment of
PD.
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About Servier Servier is an international pharmaceutical
company governed by a non-profit foundation, with its headquarters
in France (Suresnes). With a strong international presence in 149
countries and a turnover of 4.2 billion euros in 2018, Servier
employs 22 000 people worldwide. Entirely independent, the Group
reinvests 25% of its turnover (excluding generics) in research and
development and uses all its profits for development. Corporate
growth is driven by Servier’s constant search for innovation in
five areas of excellence: cardiovascular, immune-inflammatory and
neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and diabetes, as well as by its
activities in high-quality generic drugs. Servier also offers
eHealth solutions beyond drug development.
More information: www.servier.com
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About Oncodesign Founded 25 years ago by Dr. Philippe
Genne, the Company’s CEO and Chairman, Oncodesign is a
biopharmaceutical company dedicated to precision medicine. With its
unique experience acquired by working with more than 800 clients,
including the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, along with
its comprehensive technological platform combining state-of-the-art
medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, regulated bioanalysis, medical
imaging and Artificial Intelligence, Oncodesign is able to predict
and identify, at a very early stage, each molecule's therapeutic
usefulness and potential to become an effective drug. Applied to
kinase inhibitors, which represent a market estimated at over $46
billion in 2016 and accounting for almost 25% of the pharmaceutical
industry’s R&D expenditure, Oncodesign’s technology has already
enabled the targeting of several promising molecules with
substantial therapeutic potential, in oncology and elsewhere, along
with partnerships with pharmaceutical groups such as Bristol-Myers
Squibb. Oncodesign is based in Dijon, France, in the heart of the
town’s university and hospital hub, and within the Paris-Saclay
cluster. Oncodesign has 233 employees and subsidiaries in Canada
and the USA.
www.oncodesign.com
1 European Brain Council
http://www.braincouncil.eu/library/disease-fact-sheets/parkinsons-disease/
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