On December 12, 2017 Cyclenium reported the signing of a drug discovery collaboration agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese pharmaceutical research and development company (Press release, Cyclenium, DEC 12, 2017, View Source [SID1234635926]). The collaboration will exploit Cyclenium’s proprietary QUEST Library of next generation synthetic small-molecule macrocycles and associated optimization expertise to identify clinical candidates effective against multiple pharmacological targets selected by Ono in their therapeutic focus areas.

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While Cyclenium will be responsible for all medicinal chemistry efforts, starting from hit validation, to generate new macrocyclic compounds by employing its CMRTTM Technology, Ono will utilize its internal resources for the characterization of biological and pharmacological properties of these new macrocycles, as well as having full rights and responsibility for development and commercialization of the resulting drug candidates worldwide. In return, Cyclenium will receive an upfront payment and research funding from Ono, as well as development milestones and royalties on marketed products.

"We are very excited about entering this collaboration with Ono, our second with a major, globallyoperating, Japanese pharmaceutical partner," stated Helmut Thomas, Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Scientific Officer of Cyclenium. "We are confident that our CMRT Technology and proven success in the macrocycle area combined with the excellent research team at Ono will provide new insight into the modulation of their difficult targets and enable the discovery of novel macrocyclic therapeutic agents."

"We highly appreciate Cyclenium’s expertise in the macrocycle area and their technology platform to generate new drug candidates for high priority targets in our portfolio," said Hiromu Habashita, Ph.D., Corporate Officer and Executive Director, Discovery and Research of Ono. "We are very pleased to work with Cyclenium on identifying and developing the next generation of innovative drugs and we believe novel macrocyclic drugs to be generated through this collaboration will fulfill unmet medical needs."

Cyclenium has translated its over 18 years of pioneering experience, extensive knowledge base and unparalleled expertise in small molecule macrocyclic chemistry into the next generation CMRT ("smart") drug discovery technology that addresses the shortcomings of earlier efforts in this increasingly important domain.