Oncodesign, a drug discovery company and  oncology pharmacology service provider, and global specialty-driven pharmaceutical company, Ipsen, have entered into a research collaboration to discover and develop innovative LRRK2 kinase inhibitors as potential therapeutic agents against Parkinson's disease and for potential additional uses in other therapeutic areas.

Oncodesign and Ipsen will leverage their respective expertise to bring innovative therapeutic solutions to Parkinson patients.

Oncodesign’s Nanocyclix is a proprietary medicinal chemistry technology based on a macrocyclisation process of small chemical molecules that gives access to potent and highly selective small molecule kinase inhibitors with attractive physicochemical and ADME properties.

Oncodesign has identified Nanocyclix leads against a broad range of known and unexplored kinases (notably the LRRK2 program) with potential in multiple therapeutic areas. Ipsen will apply its expertise in pharmaceutical R&D and translational sciences while leveraging its network of academic and medical leaders in neurosciences.

“We are very proud and excited to have been selected by Ipsen as partner on this innovative research collaboration. This agreement advances our strategy  to partner on drug discovery activities in addition to our well known preclinical evaluation service activities in advanced oncology pharmacology", said Philippe Genne, chief executive officer and founder of Oncodesign.  

Jan Hoflack, chief scientific officer and leader of Oncodesign's discovery activities added:  "This Agreement allows us to advance our series of attractive LRRK2 inhibitors together with a partner with recognized expertise in CNS research. This is our first drug discovery partnership with a major biopharmaceutical company based on our Nanocyclix technology, validating our ability to identify uniquely potent and selective novel kinase inhibitors for use in oncology, CNS and other Therapeutic areas".

Claude Bertrand, Ipsen’s executive vice president, R&D and chief scientific officer, stated “Our collaboration with Oncodesign is the expression of our recently announced strategy to extend our R&D through expert external partners for compounds outside our chosen areas of focus, peptides and toxins. In the field of neurology and movement disorders, Parkinson’s disease is a serious condition with high unmet medical needs where patients are seeking improved care and quality of life. Today, there is no treatment targeting the underlying pathogenetic mechanism leading to progressive deterioration in those patients.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Ipsen is granted two exclusive options to exclusively license Oncodesign's LRRK2 inhibitor programme, notably upon successfully reaching clinical proof of concept, with worldwide development, manufacturing and commercialization rights. Oncodesign is entitled to a technology access fee, funding of the program's research and early development activities, and upon exercise of the license options, opt-in fees and additional development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments potentially totalling €115 million for the development of molecules in two or more indications, and tiered royalties on net sales.

Although PD is regarded as a sporadic disorder, 5-10% of PD cases are genetically inherited as familial.  LRRK2 mutations represent the highest risk of familial PD and are also observed in sporadic patients. Pathological characteristics and clinical symptoms observed in patients carrying LRRK2 mutations are indistinguishable between familial and sporadic patients. LRRK2 is a multidomain protein which contains both GTPase and Kinase enzymatic activities where most pathogenic mutations are located. LRRK2 inhibition represents a potential neuroprotective therapeutic target for the treatment of PD.