On March 31, 2015 Aeterna Zentaris Inc. (NASDAQ: AEZS, TSX: AEZ) (the "Company") reported that it has agreed to transfer its discovery library of roughly 100,000 unique compounds to the South Carolina Center for Therapeutic Discovery & Development (the Center) pursuant to a just concluded Material Transfer Agreement (Press release, AEterna Zentaris, MAR 31, 2015, View Source;q=651 [SID:1234506615]). This Agreement represents the beginning of a long-term relationship between the Company and the Center, which is part of The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), that will result in the continued use of the library for the discovery of drug development candidates for the Company in the areas of oncology, neurology, endocrinology and women’s health. The Center may make the library available to all investigators in the University of South Carolina system without restriction on its use and will own any therapeutic compounds discovered outside the Company’s areas of therapeutic interest.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

The Center has agreed to conduct screening and pre-clinical activities with respect to the library with a view toward submitting to the Company at least one development candidate in its areas of therapeutic interest per year during a ten-year period beginning in 2018. The Company will receive the right of first refusal to license the development candidates.

Should the Company decide to further develop a development candidate submitted by the Center, MUSC will license the compound candidate to the Company, and be entitled to a royalty on the net sales of all commercialized products developed from the development candidate.

However, should the Company decide not to further develop the development candidate submitted by the Center, MUSC shall pay to the Company a royalty on net sales of all commercialized products developed from the development candidate.

David Dodd, Chairman and CEO at Aeterna Zentaris stated, "This agreement with MUSC is another concrete step in our strategy of streamlining our internal drug discovery programs in order to focus our resources on our late-stage clinical programs, as well as on our commercial activities. This agreement will therefore make it possible to continue drug discovery activities without the costs and risks that they imply. More importantly, it is in line with our overall strategy of transitioning into a commercially operating specialty biopharmaceutical company. We look forward to working with the Center and MUSC, with which we have already established a close collaboration for our ZoptEC Phase 3 trial in endometrial cancer."

Karen Lackey, Director of the MUSC Center for Drug Discovery, added, "The ongoing research at MUSC is outstanding in basic, translational, and clinical sciences, focused on understanding disease processes. The transfer of this high quality collection of drug-like compounds will significantly increase our opportunities to find new medicines through sophisticated screening mechanisms. The Center’s mission is to discover and develop effective medicines in diseases that currently lack viable treatment options."