Cellzome extends drug discovery collaboration

Collaborative work aimed at treating Alzheimer's disease is being extended to March 2010 in a bid to include important research data.

The research will include a programme in which Cellzome, one of the three companies, will map the Tau pathway also associated with the disease.

Aside from the Boston-based US company Cellzome Inc., the other two businesses involved are Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OMJP) and its affiliate, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, LLC (J&JPRD).

Cellzome and J&JPRD have been jointly progressing two research programmes in Alzheimer's disease since early 2005. In the first programme, J&JPRD and Cellzome have collaborated to identify and progress novel Gamma Secretase Modulators. In the second, they are jointly selecting and progressing novel targets from the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) pathway, previously mapped by Cellzome.

As part of the agreement, OMJP has exclusive rights to the intellectual property on compounds chosen for clinical development and commercialisation. In exchange, Cellzome receives a technology access fee and research support as well as milestones and royalties on sales.

Cellzome ceo Tim Edwards, said: "I am pleased to be extending our collaboration with J&JPRD for the second time. I look forward to working with J&JPRD over the next two years to advance these novel molecules, for the potential benefit of patients."