Alliance to Develop Anti-fungal Drugs

A multiyear research collaboration to develop anti-fungal drugs has been announced by Kaken Pharmacuetical Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) and Elitra Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (San Diego, CA, USA).

Attempts to develop new anti-fungal drugs have been hampered by the lack of knowledge about new fungal drug targets. By using cell-based assays and screening technologies, Elitra has identified and prioritized the majority of essential gene drug targets in Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus, the two most important human fungal pathogens. Under the current agreement, Elitra will conduct high throughput-screening against a number of drug targets and will have responsibility for certain preclinical development efforts. Elitra will retain exclusive marketing rights in North America and certain other territories.

Kaken has expertise in developing and marketing anti-fungals and has established important in vitro and in vivo evaluation methods. Therefore, the company will contribute to the pre-clinical development efforts and help coordinate worldwide clinical development. Kaken retains exclusive marketing rights in Japan, the Far East, and Europe. The company will make a technology-access payment and fund dedicated research efforts at Elitra, making milestone payments based on progress.

"This alliance allows us to leverage our extensive knowledge of over 1,000 novel anti-fungal drug targets and access Kaken's significant drug development capabilities, while retaining the ability to exclusively market the products in the United States,” said Gordon Foulkes, executive vice president of research and development at Elitra.





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