April 7, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
TOKYO – Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson, and Tokyo-based Peptidream will develop peptide-based therapies to target multiple metabolic and cardiovascular targets.
The two companies will used PeptiDream’s proprietary Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS) technology to identify macrocyclic/constrained peptides against the metabolic and cardiovascular targets identified by Janssen. The companies also plan to “optimize hit peptides into therapeutic peptides or small molecule products.”
PeptiDream’s proprietary Peptide Discovery Platform System enables the production of highly diverse non-standard peptide libraries with high efficiency which then can be developed into peptide-based or small molecule-based therapeutics, according to company information. The size of macrocyclic and constrained peptides makes it likely they can cross the cell membrane and reach their targets. At a 2016 conference discussing the use of macrocyclic and constrained peptides in drug development, it was noted they have the safety and tolerability of biologics. Also, macrocyclic and constrained peptides have more potential surfaces with which to disrupt PPI targets, conference researchers said.
The agreement between the two companies is worth up to $1.15 billion, the companies said, when clinical development, commercialization and sales milestones are factored into the deal. In addition, PeptiDream is eligible to receive royalties on sales of any products that arise from the collaboration. Under terms of the deal, PeptiDream will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, as well as research funding. Janssen will have the right to develop and commercialize all compounds resulting from the collaboration.
“Over the past few years PeptiDream has greatly expanded our ability to turn PDPS-identified peptide candidates into peptide therapeutics, small molecule drugs, and peptide drug conjugates (PDCs), and we greatly look forward to working with a world-renowned organization like Janssen to leverage these capabilities to discover and development the next generation of first-in-class and best-in-class therapeutics,” Kiichi Kubota, president and chief executive officer of PeptiDream Inc., said in a statement.
Janssen is the latest pharma company to turn to PeptiDream for collaboration. Over the past seven years, PeptiDream has established funded discovery collaborations with 16 of the leading pharmaceutical companies; Amgen , AstraZeneca , Bristol-Myers Squibb , Lilly , GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis , Mitsubishi Tanabe, Daiichi Sankyo, Merck , Sanofi , Teijin, Kyorin, Ipsen , Genentech, Shionogi and Asahi Kasei. In addition, PeptiDream has transferred its PDPS discovery platform for broad use to Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Novartis, Lilly and Genentech.
Those deals have allowed the company to grow. In March, the company announced it had achieved a fifth milestone from its collaboration with BMS, which allowed the Japanese company to achieve an undisclosed payment.
Shares of PeptiDream, which are sold on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, are up this morning.
