Oncodesign and TiumBio Sign Collaboration Agreement for R&D of Fibrosis Drug Candidates

Oct. 21, 2021 06:00 UTC

• Collaboration is based on Oncodesign’s Nanocyclix^® technology and TiumBio’s fibrosis-centered R&D expertise

• Agreement also foresees option for in-licensing global development and commercialization rights for TiumBio

DIJON, France & PANGYO, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

Oncodesign (ALONC – FR0011766229), a French biopharmaceutical company specialized in kinase inhibitor research and precision medicine, and TiumBio (KOSDAQ:321550), 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.”

About Fibrosis

Fibrosis occurs in most tissues of the human body, which is a phenomenon of fibrous connective tissue formation. As the disease progresses, the function of the corresponding organ is defected, which can lead to various chronic fatal disease conditions such as pulmonary and liver fibrosis. In addition, fibrosis accounts for about 45% of all cause disease mortality¹, and since there are few effective treatments currently available, it is a disease area with a very high unmet medical demand from patients.

About TiumBio

In 2018, TiumBio licensed out the patent right of ‘NCE401’, a drug candidate which was in preclinical stage for pulmonary fibrosis treatment, to Chiesi Farmaceutici, an Italian pharmaceutical company. Last year, the drug candidate for NASH treatment was selected as a BIG3 government project. In addition, it has a number of new fibrosis pipelines and in development, and is known to conduct R&D to expand indication areas such as liver and renal fibrosis. It is believed that this joint R&D collaboration, signed by TiumBio, which has strengths in fibrosis R&D, can be a catalyst to spur the development of fibrosis treatment.

About Oncodesign

Oncodesign is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to precision medicine, founded in 1995 by its current CEO and majority shareholder, and has been listed on Euronext Growth Market since April 2014. Its mission is the discovery of effective therapies to fight cancer and other diseases without therapeutic solutions. With its unique experience acquired by working with more than 1 000 clients, including the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, along with its unique technological platform combining Artificial Intelligence, state-of-the-art medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, regulated bioanalysis, medical imaging, Oncodesign is able to select new therapeutic targets, design and develop potential preclinical candidates through to clinical phases. Oncodesign has configured its organization to offer innovative services to its customers and to license its proprietary molecules. Applied to kinase inhibitors, which represent a market estimated at over $65 billion by 2027 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 global pharmaceutical groups. 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 within 3 Business Units (BU): Service, Biotech, Artificial Intelligence and subsidiaries in Canada and the USA. www.oncodesign.com

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1} Nature 587, 555-566 (2020)

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