PeptiDream Inc., a public Tokyo-based biopharmaceutical company has formed a multi-target discovery and optimization collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc., under which PeptiDream will use its proprietary Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS) technology to generate macrocylic/constrained peptides against multiple targets of interest selected by Merck.

Under the agreement, Merck will have the right to develop and commercialize all therapeutic peptides resulting from the collaboration and retains an option to nonexclusively license the PDPS technology at a future date. PeptiDream will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and research funding and will be eligible for payments associated with the achievement of certain preclinical and clinical development milestones. In addition, PeptiDream is eligible to receive royalties on sales of any products that arise from the collaboration.

In the past five years, PeptiDream has established funded discovery collaborations with many leading pharmaceutical companies, such as Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Mitsubishi Tanabe, and Daiichi Sankyo, as well as a strategic collaboration with Ipsen, all of which are active and ongoing. In addition, PeptiDream has transferred its PDPS discovery platform for broad use to Bristol-Myers-Squibb and Novartis.

Source: PeptiDream