Ipsen is entering a research collaboration and license option agreement with Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company PeptiDream to discover, evaluate, potentially develop and launch therapeutic peptides to treat serious medical conditions in areas of therapeutic focus for Ipsen. PeptiDream was founded in 2006 and features a Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS), a peptide generation and selection platform that reportedly can enable the production of diverse nonstandard peptide libraries with high efficiency for the discovery and development of peptide-based therapeutics.
The research collaboration will, according to the firms, combine PeptiDream’s peptide library with Ipsen’s knowledge of peptide drug discovery and pharmaceutical R&D. In exchange for worldwide rights to the therapeutic peptides resulting from the collaboration, Ipsen will make an up-front payment to PeptiDream and pay R&D and commercialization costs. PeptiDream will receive royalties on worldwide sales, or have the right to opt-in at predefined stages to support Japan development costs for royalty-free commercial rights in that territory. In the latter circumstance, PeptiDream would also forego royalty income for ex-Japan sales.
This deal appears to be potential good news for Ipsen, which recently, along with bankrupt company Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, sold its rights to hemophilia drugs OBI-1 to Baxter International and IB1001 to Cangene.