Biocomm completes collaboration agreement between Irish Biotech Opsona and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
2/13/2006
Biocomm Services (Melbourne, Australia) today announced that it assisted Opsona Therapeutics Ltd (Dublin, Ireland) in the completion of a collaboration deal with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth (NYSE:WYE), for the discovery, development and commercialisation of compounds to treat inflammatory diseases, based on Toll-like receptor (TLR) targets.
Opsona will receive an upfront payment and may receive additional payments upon the achievement of certain discovery and development milestones. Opsona shall also receive research and development funding and royalties on potential product sales. Opsona also has the option to develop drugs derived from the collaboration for the treatment of topical indications.
The collaboration will focus on certain TLR targets to discover new chemical entities and biologics for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The targets arise from technology developed at Trinity College Dublin by Professor Luke O’Neill, through funding received by Science Foundation Ireland. In addition, Opsona will also be undertaking a target discovery program that may lead to the generation of new targets in the TLR pathways. TLRs are critical initiators of inflammation and have been implicated in the development of chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosis, in addition to applications in other fields, including cancer and vaccines (LAJ O’Neill Scientific American 2005).
Dr Andy Gearing CEO of Biocomm services said “This collaboration is an excellent combination of Opsona’s world-class discovery research in TLRs with Wyeth’s drug development and commercialisation capabilities”. The collaboration is Biocomm’s 11th successful international transaction. “Biocomm is now established as a significant international business development company serving our academic, biotech and pharma clients” said Gearing.
“Opsona looks forward to working together with Wyeth which is a world-leader in the development of new treatments for inflammation,” says Mark Heffernan, Ph.D., CEO of Opsona. “Biocomm has worked with Opsona from its inception and has been a central part of our business development activities as we have grown the company up to 20 employees in less than a year. This collaboration is a tribute to Biocomm’s professional approach and capability in the international business development community”
Stan Yakatan, Biocomm’s US-based chairman said ”This transaction is further validation of Biocomm’s global reach and vindicates the vision of its founding stakeholders to establish an internationally relevant business development agency based in Melbourne”
