Lead Pharma and Sanofi collaboration for autoimmune diseases achieves Third Milestone

Lead Pharma announced that it has achieved a third milestone under its research collaboration with Sanofi, triggering an undisclosed milestone payment. The collaboration aims to develop small molecules directed against the nuclear hormone receptor ROR gamma (t) for the treatment of a broad range of autoimmune disorders, including common diseases such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

In February 2015, Lead Pharma and Sanofi entered into a research collaboration and licensing agreement to discover, develop and commercialize small molecule therapies directed against ROR gamma (t), a key regulator of immune cells called T-helper 17 (Th17) cells. The current milestone payment follows an upfront cash payment at the start of the collaboration and two milestone payments in November 2015 and February 2017, respectively. Lead Pharma is eligible to receive further milestone payments and entitled to receive royalty payments on global sales from any resulting products. Financial details were not disclosed.

“We are delighted to have achieved another milestone in our collaboration, further validating the strength of our drug discovery engine and demonstrating our ability to work successfully with industry leaders like Sanofi” said Arthur Oubrie, Chief Scientific Officer of Lead Pharma. “We believe the overall quality of the candidate is high in view of the intricacies imposed by the pharmacology of the target and we are looking forward to results of GLP toxicology studies as the candidate advances to the clinic.”

Frank Nestle, MD, Sanofi’s Global Head of Immunology Therapeutic Research Area and Chief Scientific Officer, North America, commented: “At Sanofi, we are committed to seeking out collaborations that help us deliver on our promise to empower the lives of our patients through innovation. Lead Pharma specializes in difficult-to-address drug targets and we were attracted to their innovative approach to small molecule drug discovery. With such rapid progress in our research collaboration, I’m looking forward to many potential applications in autoimmune indications.”