Janssen Pharmaceuticals and PeptiDream agreed a potentially $1.15 billion drug discovery collaboration that will hinge on the latter’s Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS) technology to find macrocyclic/constrained peptides against metabolic and cardiovascular targets specified by Janssen. PeptiDream will in addition use its platform to optimize hits into peptide or small-molecule therapeutic candidates.
Janssen retains the right to develop and commercialize all resulting compounds, with PeptiDream receiving an undisclosed up-front payment and research funding, together with development and commercial milestones, and royalties on future product sales.
Commenting on the deal, Kiichi Kubota, PeptiDream president and CEO, said, “Over the past few years PeptiDream has greatly expanded our ability to turn PDPS-identified peptide candidates into peptide therapeutics, small-molecule drugs, and peptide drug conjugates (PDCs), and we greatly look forward to working with a world-renowned organization like Janssen to leverage these capabilities to discover and develop the next generation of first-in-class and best-in-class therapeutics.”
Tokyo-based PeptiDream is exploiting its PDPS platform to discover and develop a pipeline of in-house and partnered constrained peptides and small-molecule and peptide–drug conjugate therapeutics. The firm says it has established discovery collaborations with 16 pharmaceutical companies over the last 7 years. Last month PeptiDream reported achieving a payment-triggering fifth milestone in its collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), which was initiated in 2010 and extended 2 years later. BMS started clinical development of the first macrocyclic peptide identified through the partnership in June 2016. Also last month, PeptiDream announced reaching an initial milestone in its macrocyclic peptide collaboration with Shionogi & Co., signed in February 2016.
