GVK BIO has entered into a research agreement with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, to discover drug candidates focused on pre-defined discovery targets. GVK BIO will utilize in-house capabilities in discovery chemistry, informatics, biology and ADME to advance this program.

GVK BIO will be responsible for identifying drug candidates, which will be transferred to Wyeth to advance these compounds towards clinical studies. Under the agreement, GVK BIO will receive an initial payment and will be eligible for success-based milestone payments, but terms were not disclosed.

GV Sanjay Reddy, managing director, GVK Biosciences said, "It is a momentous occasion for us. GVK BIO has had a successful partnership with Wyeth on various chemistry research activities dating to 2006. This research agreement expands our work together and builds on GVK BIO's core strengths. This agreement further validates India's capability to do innovative research along with leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies."

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have formed a strategic platform alliance in RNAi therapeutics in the fields of oncology and metabolic disease with the option to expand to additional therapeutic areas.

This collaboration provides Takeda with broad, worldwide, non-exclusive access to and enablement with Alnylam’s RNAi therapeutics platform technology and intellectual property in the fields of oncology and metabolic disease, with the right to expand the number of therapeutic fields in the future. The agreement also includes the transfer of platform technology from Alnylam to Takeda, a collaboration and cross-license of delivery technologies between the two companies, and a drug discovery collaboration on certain RNAi therapeutic targets, subject to certain Alnylam third party obligations.

Takeda becomes Alnylam’s strategic partner for RNAi therapeutics over a five-year period and the only Asian company to obtain a right of first negotiation to develop and commercialize Alnylam RNAi therapeutic development programs for the Asian market, excluding Alnylam’s ALN-RSV01 program. In addition, Alnylam obtains opt-in options to co-develop and co-commercialize Takeda RNAi therapeutic programs in the U.S. market on a 50-50 basis.

The partnership includes $100 million in upfront payments and $50 million in near-term technology transfer payments for a non-exclusive license in two therapeutic fields and has a potential value in excess of $1 billion in future R&D and commercial milestones, upon successful commercialization of multiple products. At Takeda’s option, the scope of the partnership can be expanded to include additional fields with a $50 million per field expansion payment. Alnylam is also eligible to receive research and development funding related to the drug discovery collaboration. In addition, Alnylam is eligible to receive up to $171 million in development and commercial milestone payments and significant royalties per product.

WuXi PharmaTech has named Dr. Peng Wang to the role of vice president of Discovery Biology. Dr. Wang will oversee the company's growing portfolio of discovery biology service offerings. He will report directly to Dr. Ge Li, the company's chairman and chief executive officer.

Prior to joining WuXi PharmaTech, Dr. Wang was a research fellow at Schering-Plough Research Institute where he worked for 18 years with increasing responsibilities. He has extensive experience in discovery biology, including target validation research, assay development, screening, in vitro and in vivo biological and pharmacological studies, and mechanism of action and biomarker research. As a discovery team co-chair and biology group leader at Schering-Plough, Dr. Wang made significant contributions to the nomination of several development candidates, four of which are at various phases of clinical trial.

"I am very delighted to welcome Dr. Wang on board at this exciting time. Dr. Wang's depth of experience will undoubtedly help the company to accelerate the development of our discovery biology services, and strengthen our medicinal chemistry and biologics discovery capabilities," commented Dr. Li.

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