The Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) Biopharmaceutical cluster, the Wisconsin Technology Innovation Initiative (or Wi2, a nonprofit that aims to facilitate the translation of University of Wisconsin-Madison innovation into applied uses), and the CRO ChemDiv’s Research Institute intend to form a nonexclusive R&D consortium, the organizations said.
The overall aim is to jointly develop and market molecules, biological materials, diagnostics, and other devices resulting from technologies produced by the three entities, they added. Under the terms of the agreement, Wi2 will provide access to technologies related to cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and metabolic diseases, and will organize and finance a translational development team for each platform; MIPT will provide access to biomedical engineering, biophysical, and pharmaceutical development technologies; ChemDiv will provide access to its protein engineering, production, structural biology and structure-based drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, biochemical and cellular assay development, ADME/tox, DMPK, and multiple in vivo efficacy/toxicology models, among other things. The latter two organizations will jointly promote the collaborative platforms to a pre-approved set of global partners, including biotech and pharma firms, they said. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“Building this subsequent three-way relationship with ChemDiv and Wi2 is of exceptional value due to their unique expertise and high profile,” Oleg Korzinov, executive director of MIPT’s Biopharmaceutical cluster, said in a statement. “We are confident that this is the start of a strong and synergistic collaboration that will yield novel technologies and treatments for diseases with unmet medical needs.”