Oncodesign, a French biopharmaceutical company specialized in kinase inhibitor research and precision medicine, and TiumBio a company specializing in R&D for rare diseases, have announced the signature of a research collaboration agreement on R&D of potential drug candidates for fibrosis.
Under this agreement, Oncodesign will be responsible for identification, chemical synthesis and optimization of Nanocyclix drug candidates and their early-stage analysis, while TiumBio will be responsible for the advanced evaluation of fibrotic efficacy of the drug candidates. This initial phase of the collaboration will be funded by TiumBio.
Also, TiumBio has secured an exclusive option to in-license global development and commercialization rights of the discovered drug candidates after their evaluation upon reaching predefined success criteria. Financial conditions for this option, which might be lifted over the next year, cannot be disclosed at this stage.
Hun-Taek Kim, CEO of TiumBio, stated: “We are delighted to work with Oncodesign to achieve our common goal of developing treatments for rare and incurable diseases. If we combine Oncodesign’s kinase inhibitor-based platform technology and our fibrosis-centered R&D experience and expertise in rare diseases, I am confident that we can develop new and innovative drugs in the fibrosis area.”
Philippe Genne, CEO and founder of Oncodesign, said: “This new collaboration with TiumBio, an expert company in fibrosis in South-Korea, further expands the global reach of our unique technologies. Following earlier collaborations with international pharmaceutical companies including BMS (Bristol-Myers-Squibb), Ipsen, Sanofi, Servier and UCB, our platform technology Nanocyclix again is poised to bring solutions in a difficult area. I am thrilled to team up with TiumBio to find solutions for patients suffering from Fibrosis.”
Jan Hoflack, CSO of Oncodesign, added: “This agreement is another example where an expert pharma company looking for compounds with unique and hard-to-meet criteria comes to benefit from our Nanocyclix technology platform, looking for high potency and exquisite selectivity. Upfront testing of the Nanocyclix diversity set has allowed to identify starting points satisfying TiumBio’s initial criteria and has led to this exciting collaboration.”