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BioSeek, Inc., a pioneer in the application of predictive human biology to drug discovery, announced today that it has entered into a new and expanded agreement with UCB, a global biopharmaceutical company based in Belgium. Under the collaboration, BioSeek will, over the next year, both carry out broad-based profiling of selected UCB new chemical and biological entities, and guide lead optimization of a specific phenotypic hit previously identified by UCB and further characterized in BioMAP® screens. According to the terms of the agreement, BioSeek will receive various payments from UCB, including an upfront technology license fee, research funding, and preclinical and clinical milestone payments based on candidate advancement enabled by the BioMAP platform.
"UCB's decision to expand its relationship with BioSeek is an important validation of our work and technology. Our 2007 collaboration identified specific areas of high interest to UCB where the BioMAP® platform could be productively applied to UCB projects, and those form the basis of the new agreement encompassing two major programs in bioactive annotation and lead optimization," said Michael C. Venuti, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of BioSeek. "The success of this collaboration demonstrates the broad utility of our BioMAP® platform of predictive human biology screens to enhance and accelerate drug discovery."
"Our previous project with UCB clearly showed that, by combining proper study design and attention to detailed follow-up, the BioMAP® systems can be used to identify and advance promising molecules through preclinical evaluation in a way complementary to target-based drug discovery. By focusing on pharmacological outcome in a defined set of validated human cell-based screens, novel bioactivity can be detected, and anecdotally observed activity can be optimized. We look forward to working with UCB on these two major projects in the coming year," added Dr. Venuti.
BioMAP® Systems are primary cell-based models of human disease biology, designed to replicate the intricate cell and pathway interactions as they are observed in vascular inflammation, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, fibrosis and related clinical indications. Depending on their mechanism of action, compounds induce specific patterns of changes in these systems (BioMAP® profiles) that can be compared to a large number of reference profiles in the BioMAP® Database. Assessment with BioMAP® provides early insight into human pharmacological properties of compounds, including on- and off-target effects, dose responses, and the discrimination of closely related compounds.
About BioSeek
BioSeek is improving the success rate of pharmaceutical research and development by integrating human biology from the earliest stages of drug discovery onward. The company's BioMAP® Systems incorporate predictive primary human cell-based disease models that generate uniquely informative activity profiles of each potential drug, assisting in the selection and development of new drug candidates. BioSeek is leveraging BioMAP® Systems technology in collaborations to enhance the productivity of its pharmaceutical partners' pipelines, and in the company's internal discovery programs. For more information, go to www.bioseekinc.com.
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