Strasbourg, France, October 23, 2012 - Domain Therapeutics S.A. announced today that Domain Therapeutics and Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Osaka, Japan) signed a collaboration agreement focused on discovering small molecules targeting G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs).
Under the agreement, Ono will provide Domain Therapeutics with an upfront payment, pay research funding for the collaborative research programs and success-based milestones on the research and development progress, as well as royalties on sales of the products.
Domain Therapeutics will apply DTect-All(TM), its proprietary GPCR drug discovery platform, and its expertise in GPCR medicinal chemistry and pharmacology to design and optimize small molecules into drug candidates having activity against GPCRs selected by Ono. Ono will have worldwide exclusive rights to develop and commercialize any pharmaceutical product arising out of the drug discovery collaboration.
“This collaboration with Ono further confirms the value of our differentiated drug discovery process and of our expertise in the field of GPCRs. It constitutes an important step towards the objective of Domain Therapeutics to collaborate with pharma partners on integrated projects, from target to drug candidate,” said Pascal Neuville, CEO of Domain Therapeutics. “We are delighted to be collaborating with Ono, which is recognized as a leading Japanese pharmaceutical company.”
Kazuhito Kawabata, Ph.D., member of the board of directors, executive officer and executive director, discovery and research of Ono said: “We highly appreciate Domain Therapeutics’ DTect-All(TM) technology and strongly believe that the company is the partner of choice to identify GPCR drugs. This collaboration will strengthen Ono’s drug discovery capability in research areas of Ono’s expertise with significant unmet medical needs. We are expecting that innovative drugs will be created through this collaboration.”
About Domain Therapeutics
Domain Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company located in Strasbourg, France, dedicated to the discovery and early development of small molecules targeting GPCRs, one of the most important classes of drug targets. Domain Therapeutics discovers GPCR drugs by exploiting its innovative and differentiated approach. The company’s pipeline is composed of new chemical entities, ranging from hits to optimized leads for significant CNS and metabolic disorders. For more information, please visit http://www.domaintherapeutics.com
About GPCRs
GPCRs are members of a class of cell surface receptors conjugated with a G-protein, whose signaling pathway is initiated by binding between the receptor and a hormone or bioactive molecule. GPCR targeted therapeutics comprise major drug classes in many disease areas, including CNS, metabolic, cardiovascular, respiratory, urinary and gastrointestinal.
About DTect-All(TM)
Domain Therapeutics’ DTect-All(TM) is a unique and proprietary drug discovery process enabling companies to successfully work with challenging GPCR members. DTect-All(TM) combines several technologies to identify allosteric modulators, biased ligands and to efficiently work with intractable or orphan GPCRs.
About Ono
In keeping with its philosophy of “Dedicated to man’s fight against disease and pain,” Ono has always striven to achieve its goal of serving as an R&D-oriented global specialty pharmaceuticals, aiming to develop innovative and globally recognized drugs. To do this, Ono has been engaged in drug discovery research based on accumulated technologies and know-how – in areas where its strengths can be fully exploited (i.e. bioactive lipid agonists and enzyme inhibitors such as proteases and kinases). In addition, modulators of membrane transport systems such as ion-channels and transporters as well as biotechnology-based medicines are also the areas of our focus where we drive forward our research effectively deploying our know-how from neuroscience research and our gene assets together with the latest information acquired from global research institutions on drug discovery targets and the cutting-edge drug discovery technologies that biopharmaceutical companies can offer.
For more information, please visit http://www.ono.co.jp
