February 18, 2015
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Paris-based Sanofi announced today that it had inked an agreement with Dutch company Lead Pharma. The research collaboration and licensing deal will focus on finding, developing and marketing small-molecule therapies against the nuclear hormone receptors ROR gamma t.
ROR gamma t, or nuclear receptor retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor gamma, regulates the cytokine immune pathway, interleukin (IL)-17. This regulation is involved in how T cells respond and generate specific responses to pro-inflammatory proteins. ROR gamma t is indicated in numerous immune-mediated diseases that can range from rheumatoid arthritis to inflammatory bowel diseases.
“Anti-ROR gamma t therapies represent a ground-breaking opportunity that we are eager and motivated to pursue through our collaboration with Lead Pharma,” said Christian Antoni, Sanofi’s vice president and head of Immunology & Inflammation Franchise, Research & Development in a statement. “At Sanofi, we believe networked innovations—working collaboratively across science sectors—is the most effective way to bring meaningful new therapies to patients. To this end, Lead Pharma’s innovative capabilities and productivity, exemplified by the ROR gamma t program, make them ideal partners for Sanofi in this area of drug discovery.”
The companies hope to begin clinical trials in 2018 and 2019. This partnership is only one in several recent partnerships Sanofi has been involved in, suggesting that Sanofi is attempting to bolster its pipeline and refocus its research and development initiatives.
On Feb. 11, Sanofi’s Boston-based Genzyme Corporation announced a collaboration agreement with Cambridge, Mass.-based Voyager Therapeutics to develop drugs to treat severe CNS disorders. On Jan. 30, Sanofi scooped up 843,699 shares of Cambridge, Mass.-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals , which set off a round of rumors about a possible acquisition.
Sanofi also heavily invested in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in July 2014. Although there is speculation this is to bolster internal research efforts, Sanofi spokeswoman Flore Larger said in a statement that these deals “do not replace in-house R&D,” emphasizing that Sanofi “has successfully transformed its R&D organization into Sanofi’s core engine of growth” and that “Sanofi R&D changed the paradigm from a focus on quantity to a focus on quality of projects with rigorously managed milestones and greater resources for each promising project.”
In addition, Sanofi indicates that from 2016 to 2018 the company plans to launch a new product every six months, with a potential 18 launches through 2020 that are projected to generate €30 billion of sales in the first five years. Planned product launches for 2015 include diabetes drug Toujeo, a combination vaccine PR5i, a dengue fever vaccine, a cholesterol drug called Praluent, and a drug for Gaucher’s disease called Cerdelga.
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