London: 8 February 2006 - MNLpharma Ltd, Aberystwyth, UK, and Avexa Ltd, Melbourne, Australia, today announce an exclusive license for Avexa to develop and commercialize a number of HIV Integrase Inhibitors identified from MNLpharma’s Phytopure™ library. Under the terms of the agreement, Avexa will fund the optimisation, preclinical and clinical development, and commercialisation of any resulting products. MNLpharma will receive milestone payments and royalties. The financial terms were undisclosed.
This agreement follows an initial collaboration between the two companies in 2004, during which the HIV Integrase inhibitors were discovered in MNLpharma’s Phytopure™ library.
Avexa has built considerable expertise with HIV integrase, an enzyme specific to HIV that is essential for viral replication. By generating treatments for HIV/Aids that target this enzyme alone, Avexa hopes to avoid the significant side effect issues associated with many existing HIV drugs. Currently there are no drugs available that target this enzyme, although it has attracted a great deal of interest and research across the industry.
In announcing the deal, Hadyn Parry, CEO of MNLpharma said, “We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with Avexa, and to help generate a new generation of drugs for HIV that are both effective and well tolerated. Avexa are leaders in this field and well placed to develop and exploit any novel compounds arising from our Phytopure™ library. This deal fits perfectly with our business model to exploit the Phytopure™ compound library in our non-core areas through partnerships with leading companies in specific technology area, such as Avexa in HIV Integrase.”
Julian Chick, CEO of Avexa said, “Around the world 42 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, and there remain significant problems with available drugs to treat the epidemic. We believe there is great promise in the development of a drug which inhibits the enzyme which causes the spread of infection. Our agreement with MNLpharma allows Avexa to pursue exclusively the development of this program and supports our existing HIV Integrase program.”
