On October 26, 2016 Dong-A ST Co., Ltd. (170900: Korea SE), the Korean pharmaceutical company, and Beactica AB, the Swedish fragment-based drug discovery company, reported a new multi-year research and drug discovery collaboration and licensing agreement (Press release, Dong-A ST, OCT 26, 2016, View Source [SID1234535725]). Beactica and Dong-A ST will jointly develop novel anti-cancer drugs against certain disease-related oncology targets.
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Under the terms of the agreement, Dong-A ST will gain exclusive global rights for the further development and commercialization of Beactica’s small molecule inhibitors against multiple members of a family of epigenetic enzymes. The partnership will pool existing compound series from both companies and combine Beactica’s unique early-stage lead generation capabilities with DONG-A ST’s strengths in downstream pre-clinical and clinical development of new therapeutic agents.
Beactica will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and is eligible to receive research funding as well as potential milestone payments for certain research, preclinical, clinical and regulatory milestones. In addition, Beactica is eligible to receive royalties on commercial sales of the products resulting from the partnership. Beactica is also entitled to a revenue share from any related future licensing activities by Dong-A. Full financial details remain undisclosed.
"This global research collaboration between Dong-A ST and Beactica which specializes in developing novel drug targets marks a big step forward in development of next generation anti-cancer therapeutics" said Dr Soo-Hyoung Kang, President and CEO of Dong-A ST. "This collaboration and licensing of Beactica’s small molecule inhibitors will greatly strengthen Dong-A ST’s current oncology pipeline and will further enhance Dong-A ST’s global competitiveness in the pharmaceutical industry."
"We’ve been impressed by Dong-A’s commitment to benefiting cancer patients through therapeutics that modulate epigenetic pathways and are excited to initiate this collaboration." said Dr Per Källblad, CEO of Beactica. "This is a ground-breaking partnership in terms of structure, scope and the potential clinical impact of therapeutics created through our complementary capabilities."
Epigenetics is the study of physiological changes caused by altered gene expressions originating from inherited changes other than the DNA sequence itself. Cancer epigenetics is a rapidly emerging research area with potential to provide new treatments for patients by modifying DNA and chromatin, both of which play important roles in tumour development.