Therapeutic Rights for Chlamydia Sequences Licensed

An exclusive worldwide license to all therapeutic applications resulting from its patient applications covering the full-length sequences of Chlamydia pneumoniae and Chlamydia trachomatis has been granted by Genset S.A. (Paris, France) to Ricerca Biosciences, LLC (Concord, OH, USA).

Under the terms of the agreement, Ricerca will own rights to all anti-infective drugs developed through the programs, while Genset will receive an equity position in Ricerca along with patent issuance and development milestones, as well as royalties from any drugs and drug candidates developed and/or co-developed by Ricerca.

C trachomatis infection is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States and is also one of the most common infectious causes of blindness worldwide. C pneumoniae is the third most common cause of acute respiratory disease and has been implicated in several chronic diseases. Ricerca plans to develop drugs by comparing the C pneumoniae and C trachomatis genes to find novel targets involved in the causes of chronic diseases. Ricerca is licensing a portfolio of new genomic targets and lead candidate molecules in anti-infectives and oncology for internal drug development. Genset had previously licensed the vaccine rights for the Chlamydia intellectual property to another company.

"Recent information has established a strong link between Chlamydia infection and atherosclerosis and knowledge of the Chlamydia genome can help us develop drugs that are specifically targeted to Chlamydia, that could potentially be used to treat chronic cardiovascular diseases,” said Prabhavathi Fernandes, CEO of Ricerca.




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