Discovery Partners and AZ sign gene expression profiling license agreement
Discovery Partners International, of San Diego, California, and AstraZeneca UK have entered into a long-term licensing agreement.
Discovery Partners International, of San Diego, California, and AstraZeneca UK have entered into a long-term licensing agreement.
Under the agreement, AstraZeneca receives worldwide, non-exclusive rights to Discovery Partners' exclusive patent portfolio governing the use of in vitro gene expression profiling as a response to drug-induced stresses for indicating toxicity of chemical compounds.
Discovery Partners, a leader in drug discovery collaborations, holds key patents that cover methods and kits for producing gene expression profiles using multiple technologies, including exposing cells to pharmaceutical compounds and other chemicals and then determining levels of expression of multiple stress induced genes. The technology enables researchers in drug discovery to group drug candidates into different classes according to their expression profiles and toxic potential and to prioritise compounds for further development.