PeptiDream said today it has licensed its proprietary Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS) technology on a nonexclusive basis to Shionogi & Co.
The value of the companies’ Technology License Agreement was not disclosed. PeptiDream did say, however, it will receive an up-front payment and additional technology access payments—and is eligible for payments tied to achieving development milestones for any constrained peptides and/or small molecules discovered from use of the PDPS technology.
PeptiDream added that it is also eligible for royalties on sales of certain products developed through the PDPS technology.
Work on peptide–drug conjugates (PDCs) is not included in the nonexclusive license—as has been the case with PeptiDream’s four previous technology license agreements.
Shionogi is one of 17 drug developers to join PeptiDream in establishing funded discovery collaborations.
PeptiDream said it will continue to work with Shionogi to identify macrocyclic/constrained peptides against multiple targets of interest selected by Shionogi, and to optimize peptide hits into therapeutic peptides or small-molecule products using PeptiDream’s PDPS technology, as the companies agreed in February 2016.
PeptiDream’s technology is being used toward identifying drugs from “highly difficult” targets in infectious disease and pain and central nervous system disorders, Shionogi said March 16 in an investor presentation focused on its R&D efforts.
The collaboration, PeptiDream CEO Kiichi Kubota said in a statement, “has already made incredible progress, with the first milestone already reached in March 2017, and now Shionogi becomes the first Japanese company to in-license our PDPS technology.”
PeptiDream received an undisclosed payment as a result of the unspecified milestone.
“We strongly hope that this technology license will serve to accelerate the discovery and development efforts at Shionogi, ultimately leading to the identification of novel first-in-class and best-in-class therapeutics to address the world’s unmet medical needs,” Kubota added.
In addition to Shionogi, the other 16 companies launching discovery collaborations with PeptiDream include Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Daiichi Sankyo, Merck, Sanofi, Teijin, Kyorin, Ipsen, Genentech, Shionogi, Asahi Kasei—and Janssen, under an up-to-$1.15 billion collaboration initiated in April.
