PeptiDream Inc., a public Tokyo-based biopharmaceutical company, has entered into a technology license agreement with US-based Eli Lilly and Company to non exclusively license PeptiDream’s proprietary Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS) technology.
Under the terms of the technology license agreement, PeptiDream will receive upfront and annual technology access payments, and will be eligible to receive development milestones and royalties on future sales of products (both peptide and small molecule therapeutics) that arise from use of the PDPS technology. Similar to previous technology licenses, the license will exclude work on peptide-drug conjugate (PDC) programmes, as PeptiDream has extensive internal development efforts ongoing in this area, to which PeptiDream will be providing additional information soon.
PeptiDream will continue to work with Lilly to identify and develop potential drug candidates for Lilly’s targets using PeptiDream’s PDPS technology, under the original agreement in December 2013, in addition to the technology transfer. PeptiDream is eligible to receive milestone payments upon the successful achievement of certain development milestones and royalties on future sales of products that arise from the agreements. Further financial terms have not been disclosed.
In the past six years, PeptiDream has established funded discovery collaborations with 15 of the leading pharmaceutical companies; Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Daiichi Sankyo, Merck, Sanofi, Teijin, Kyorin, Ipsen, Genentech, and Shionogi, all of which are active and ongoing. In addition, PeptiDream has transferred its PDPS discovery platform for broad use to Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Novartis, and Lilly.
Kiichi Kubota, president & CEO of PeptiDream Inc, said “We are delighted that Lilly has decided to internalise our PDPS technology. Our PDPS technology aims to target sites not identified by conventional methods, which can then serve as the starting point for the development of either peptide or small molecule based therapeutics. The license with Lilly is a testament to how PDPS technology is changing the way drugs are discovered.”