Cypralis and Gilead Sciences have agreed that Cypralis will have exclusive development and commercialization rights to certain macrocyclic inhibitors of peptide bond isomerases, in all fields except for oncology and virology. This follows a multi-year drug discovery collaboration between Selcia Ltd. and Gilead under which Selcia provided integrated drug discovery services to support Gilead’s liver disease research programs. The research phase ended in 2013 and Selcia’s rights have since been transferred to Cypralis.
 
Under the research collaboration, Selcia and Gilead generated four jointly owned patents and two preclinical candidates. 
 
Simon Kerr, chief executive officer, Cypralis, said, “Cyprolides are a new class of fully synthetic cyclophilin inhibitors that are potent inhibitors of cyclophilin D and protect against opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore. This property leads to protection of cells and tissues associated with several diseases such as neurodegeneration, fibrosis and other mitochondrially-mediated diseases. By focusing upon acute and chronic degenerative diseases, we aim to exploit the properties of this new class of compound in areas outside of oncology and virology.”