MADISON, N.J., Jan. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/- Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth (NYSE: WYE - News) and Solvay Pharmaceutical B.V. announced today that they have entered into a new neuroscience discovery, co-development, and co-commercialization agreement.
As announced in April 2004, Wyeth and Solvay previously entered into co-development and co-commercialization agreements for bifeprunox and other neuroscience compounds. This collaboration has already resulted in a New Drug Application submitted on October 11, 2006 to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for bifeprunox for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. Development continues on two other clinical stage neuroscience projects SLV-313 and SLV-314, which were part of the 2004 agreements.
Under the new agreement, the parties will collaborate in a joint discovery effort targeting the identification of small molecules as potential anti-psychotic medications. Any compounds discovered as part of the research collaboration will be jointly co-owned and patented by Wyeth and Solvay as well as co-developed and co-commercialized by the two companies.
“Pooling the experiences and know-how of Solvay and Wyeth will enhance the probability for the discovery of a number of novel pre-development neuroscience candidates,” says Menelas Pangalos, Ph.D., Vice President, Neuroscience Discovery, Wyeth Research.
Each party is initially contributing several compounds to the collaboration for use in the joint discovery program, and thereafter the parties will contribute equal resources to the discovery effort.
There were no signing fees or milestone payments associated with the agreement.
Current Antipsychotic Treatments
All currently marketed efficacious antipsychotics used in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders target dopamine D2 receptors. The first generation typical antipsychotics, as well as second-generation atypical antipsychotics, are antagonists at dopamine D2 receptors. The third generation antipsychotics, such as bifeprunox, are partial agonists at dopamine D2 receptors. The potential advantage of a partial dopamine agonist is that a patient’s symptoms can be stabilized without metabolic side effects associated with many current therapies.
About Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has leading products in the areas of women’s health care, cardiovascular disease, central nervous system, inflammation, transplantation, hemophilia, oncology, vaccines and nutritional products. Wyeth is one of the world’s largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care products companies. It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products and non-prescription medicines that improve the quality of life for people worldwide. The Company’s major divisions include Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and Fort Dodge Animal Health.
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Source: Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
