Almac Discovery has entered a research and licensing agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, to discover and develop small molecule inhibitors of a ubiquitin specific protease (USP) target.
 
Almac will receive $14.5 million upfront and will be eligible to receive as much as $349 million based certain milestones, as well as royalties on sales of multiple products based on Genentech targets.
 
Almac Discovery’s potent and selective small molecule inhibitors will be the starting point for a two-year joint research program funded by Genentech. Genentech will be responsible for all preclinical and clinical development and commercialization of any products resulting from the collaboration.
 
Tim Harrison, vice president Drug Discovery, Almac Discovery commented “Inhibitors of ubiquitin specific proteases have been a highly sought after, yet elusive drug class, proving difficult to identify despite significant efforts from both pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Ubiquitin specific proteases have been shown to play an important role in a number of key oncogenic pathways, and the identification of potent, selective inhibitors provides an exciting opportunity to fully exploit this novel biology, as well as further demonstrating the chemical tractability of this important target class.”
 
“We’re pleased to initiate this collaboration with Almac Discovery where we hope to discover and develop therapies targeting an important USP that can potentially advance the standard of care patients with cancer” said James Sabry, senior vice president and global head of Genentech Partnering.