Athersys To Provide Bristol-Myers Squibb With Validated Drug Targets
Athersys Inc. today announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) in which Athersys will provide Bristol-Myers Squibb access to its proprietary RAGE-VT™ (Random Activation of gene expression for Validated Targets) technology for the production of human cell lines expressing validated drug targets. Under the terms of the agreement, Athersys will use the RAGE-VT™ technology to initially provide Bristol-Myers Squibb access to human cell lines expressing six validated drug targets. In addition, the collaboration may be expanded to include up to fifty validated drug targets. Bristol-Myers Squibb plans to use its combinatorial chemistry capabilities to develop small molecule drug candidates against the validated targets. Athersys will receive licensing fees for each RAGE-VT™ cell line, as well as milestone payments on the development of candidate therapeutics, and royalty payments on sales of any products that are developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb using the RAGE technology.
"The pharmaceutical industry faces a growing problem -- how to obtain access to validated protein drug targets for the development of new therapeutics in the face of aggressive patenting strategies on the use of cloned and isolated genes. There are a growing number of cases where companies file for and obtain a patent on an isolated gene without knowing anything definitive about the medical relevance of the encoded protein. As a result, important pharmaceutical research and development programs may have to be shut down at other companies, impeding the development of new and more effective therapeutics," said Dr. Gil Van Bokkelen, president and chief executive officer of Athersys. "Our proprietary RAGE technology enables the production of human cell lines that express biologically important proteins without requiring the use of cloned and isolated genes. This application of the RAGE technology provides Bristol-Myers Squibb and our other collaborators with the freedom to continue important drug discovery projects. Bristol-Myers Squibb's commitment to discovery of novel drugs and the breadth of their drug discovery capabilities make them an ideal partner for the RAGE-VT™ program."
"Bristol-Myers Squibb is looking for rapid and effective solutions to many of the bottlenecks facing us in the post-genomics era and target validation is one of the major bottlenecks," said Elliott Sigal, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president, early discovery and applied technology, Bristol-Myers Squibb. "Athersys' RAGE technology will allow us to leapfrog over one or more steps in the validation process which, in turn, will enable our teams to develop drug candidates more quickly."
Other news from the department research and development
