MethylGene and EnVivo Pharmaceuticals entered into a collaborative agreement with CHDI, a nonprofit organization that is pursuing biotechnology approaches to rapidly discover and develop treatments for Huntington’s disease (HD). MethylGene and EnVivo formed a collaboration in February, 2005 focused on MethylGene’s HDAC technology for use in neurodegenerative diseases.
In this collaboration, CHDI will provide financial and preclinical research support to MethylGene to enhance its collaboration with EnVivo Pharmaceuticals to progress histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors for the treatment of HD. MethylGene will receive up to $1.5 million in initial funding for the identification, design, and synthesis of new isotype-selective HDAC inhibitors for potential use in treating Huntington’s disease as well as support for other preclinical pharmacology testing. MethylGene and EnVivo retain the exclusive right to develop and commercialize any clinical candidates that arise from the collaboration.