Australia-based Phylogica has signed a licensing agreement with UK bio-pharmaceutical firm PhoreMost to discover and develop small molecule cancer drugs.
As part of the deal, PhoreMost will receive a worldwide non-exclusive licence from Phylogica to use certain Phylomer libraries exclusively for phenotypic screening to identify new targets involved in diseases such as cancer and then to discover and develop small molecule drugs against these targets.
Phylomer peptides are derived from biodiverse natural sequences, which were selected by evolution to form stable structures that can bind tightly and specifically to disease associated target proteins, both inside and outside cells.
Phylogica CEO Dr Richard Hopkins said: "We are delighted the PhoreMost agreement formalises our long-standing collaboration with professor Venkitaraman’s team at the University of Cambridge who are co-founders of PhoreMost and who are world leaders in cutting-edge phenotypic screening approaches to identify novel disease targets involved in cancer.
"The team is complemented by PhoreMost CEO Dr Chris Torrance, who co-founded and commercialised Horizon Discovery, a pioneering phenotypic screening company, which recently floated on the London Stock Exchange and is currently valued at more than £150m."
The deal will allow Phylogica to retain all commercial rights to exploit any Phylomer peptides identified in the screens for therapeutic purposes.
In addition, the deal will allow Phylogica to acquire a 7.5% equity stake in PhoreMost along with the non-exclusive rights to commercialise any functional Phylomer peptides and associated disease targets.
Dr Torrance said: "We have been very aware of Phylogica’s unique technology asset and its vast potential to generate novel drug candidates for diseases previously considered undruggable."
