Sanofi enters autoimmune diseases pact with Lead Pharma
pharmafile | February 18, 2015 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Sanofi, autoimmune, biox, lead pharma, psoriasis
Sanofi is to collaborate with Dutch biotech firm Lead Pharma to develop treatments for autoimmune diseases.
The companies will work together to create small-molecule therapies to treat a broad range of disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis – which affects hands, feet and wrists, plus the chronic skin condition psoriasis.
The agreement sees Sanofi and Lead Pharma – a privately-owned drug discovery company financed by Netherlands-based Biox Biosciences – collaborate with a goal of identifying drug candidates and beginning human trials within three to four years.
They will work on therapies that fight against nuclear hormone receptors called RAR-related orphan receptor gamma, or ROR gamma (t) – proteins found in the lungs, liver and kidneys.
“Anti-ROR gamma (t) therapies represent a ground-breaking opportunity that we are eager and motivated to pursue through our collaboration with Lead Pharma,” comments Christian Antoni who is the vice president and head of immunology and inflammation R&D at Sanofi.
“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) programme, make them ideal partners for us in this area of drug discovery.”
There are more than 80 types of autoimmune disorders, and they occur when the body’s immune system attacks and destroy healthy body tissue by mistake.
Rheumatoid arthritis is one such type that can affect adults at any age, although it’s most common between the ages of 40 and 50. In the UK around 400,000 people have the disease which is more common in women than men.
Lead Pharma will receive an upfront sum and is eligible to receive research and regulatory milestone payments. Sanofi will be responsible for clinical development and will have worldwide marketing and commercialisation rights.
Tom Robinson
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