Galenea Corp. has aligned its strategy to focus exclusively on discovering and developing drugs to treat central nervous system (CNS) diseases. In line with this focus, Galenea recently agreed to sell its siRNA program for the treatment of influenza and other respiratory viruses to Nastech Pharmaceuticals. The value created by the siRNA program will enable the company to in-license additional CNS programs to augment its pipeline.

Galenea will continue to support the research collaboration with Otsuka Pharmaceuticals that focuses on developing new drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia and other CNS disorders based on technology developed in the laboratories of Professor Susumu Tonegawa of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Professor Maria Karayiorgou of Rockefeller University. Since signing the research and collaboration agreement with Otsuka, Galenea has built an integrated drug discovery and development organization. It intends to leverage this infrastructure to develop additional CNS compounds.

"I am very gratified to see Galenea take another step toward becoming a premier biotech company focused on discovering and developing important new drugs for treating major CNS diseases," said Professor Susumu Tonegawa.