Japan biopharma signs big licensing deal with USA biopharna

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https://www.thepharmaletter.com/art...ther-big-licensing-deal-this-one-with-alnylam

PeptiDream signs another big licensing deal, this one with Alnylam​

31-07-2021 Print

 

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Japan biopharma signs big licensing deal with USA biopharma​

 

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Japanese biotech PeptiDream (TYO: 4587) has entered into a license and collaboration agreement with US RNAi therapeutics company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ALNY) to discover and develop peptide-siRNA conjugates to create multiple opportunities to deliver RNAi therapeutics to tissues outside the liver.

This comes hot on the heels of the news that PeptiDream has expanded its collaborations with fellow Japanese company Takeda (TYO: 4502) to create peptide-drug conjugates (PDCs) for several central nervous system (CNS) targets. PeptiDream is eligible to receive up to around $3.5 billion in total as upfront and potential contingent payments from this accord. Over the last few years, PeptiDream has entered into a string of collaborations, including with pharma giants Novartis (NOVN: VX) and Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK).

 

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Through this latest collaboration, the companies will collaborate to select and optimize peptides for targeted delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules to a wide range of cell types and tissues via specific interactions with receptors expressed on the target cells.

Under the terms of the alliance, Alnylam will select a set of receptors for PeptiDream’s peptide discovery platform. PeptiDream will select, optimize, and synthesize peptides for each receptor. Alnylam will then generate peptide-siRNA conjugates and perform in vitro and 00in vivo studies to support final peptide selection. The collaboration has the potential to yield multiple treatment opportunities by targeting disease causing mRNA transcripts in a wide variety of tissue types.

 

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Deal worth up to $2.2 billion​

Under the terms of the accord, PeptiDream will receive an upfront payment from Alnylam as well as R&D funding over the term of the research collaboration, as provided in the agreement. PeptiDream may also receive payments based on the achievement of specified development, regulatory, and commercial milestones potentially totaling up to $2.2 billion (244 billion yen). In addition, PeptiDream is eligible to receive low-to-mid single digit royalties on sales on any such Alnylam products.

“Having solved delivery of RNAi therapeutics to the liver and made substantial preclinical progress on in vivo delivery to the CNS, eye, and lung, we are now adding to our suite of delivery technologies that have the potential to enable efficient delivery of siRNA to even broader tissue types throughout the human body,” said Kevin Fitzgerald, chief scientific officer of Alnylam. “We are excited to enter into this collaborative research agreement with PeptiDream, an industry leader in the discovery and optimization of peptide ligands against a wide variety of receptors. Through this collaboration, we hope to identify robust ligand-receptor pairs for extrahepatic tissue delivery, similar to the GalNAc-ASGPR pair that we have pioneered for effective liver delivery,” he added.

“We look forward to partnering with Alnylam to leverage our PDPS technology and peptide discovery capabilities to identify novel ligands against Alnylam selected target receptors that can facilitate delivery of drug payloads to a broad range of extrahepatic tissues,” said Patrick Reid president and representative director of PeptiDream. “This deal further expands on our strategy of using peptides to deliver a variety of therapeutic payloads (as peptide drug-conjugates) to disease cells/tissues in a targeted fashion. We hope this partnership will enable the creation of innovative peptide-siRNA conjugates in a variety of diseases and unlock many new therapeutic opportunities,” he noted.

 

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Japanese biotech PeptiDream (TYO: 4587) has entered into a license and collaboration agreement with US RNAi therapeutics company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ALNY) to discover and develop peptide-siRNA conjugates to create multiple opportunities to deliver RNAi therapeutics to tissues outside the liver.

ABSTRACT. RNA interference (RNAi) is an ancient biological mechanism used to defend against external invasion. It theoretically can silence any disease-related genes in a sequence-specific manner, making small interfering RNA (siRNA) a promising therapeutic modality.19 Jun 2020

Therapeutic siRNA: state of the art | Signal Transduction and Targeted ...​

 

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peptide-drug conjugates (PDCs)

Abstract. Peptide–drug conjugates (PDCs) represent an important class of therapeutic agents that combine one or more drug molecules with a short peptide through a biodegradable linker.

Peptide–drug conjugates as effective prodrug strategies for ...​

https://www.sciencedirect.com › science › article › pii

 

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What Is the Difference Between a Peptide and a Protein?​

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BY Kara Rogers

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© raimund14/Fotolia
Proteins and peptides are fundamental components of cells that carry out important biological functions. Proteins give cells their shape, for example, and they respond to signals transmitted from the extracellular environment. Certain types of peptides play key roles in regulating the activities of other molecules. Structurally, proteins and peptides are very similar, being made up of chains of amino acids that are held together by peptide bonds (also called amide bonds). So, what distinguishes a peptide from a protein?

 

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The basic distinguishing factors are size and structure. Peptides are smaller than proteins.Traditionally, peptides are defined as molecules that consist of between 2 and 50 amino acids, whereas proteins are made up of 50 or more amino acids. In addition, peptides tend to be less well defined in structure than proteins, which can adopt complex conformations known as secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structures.Functional distinctions may also be made between peptides and proteins.

 

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Amino acids are organic compounds that contain amino (–NH2) and carboxyl (–COOH) functional groups, along with a side chain (R group) specific to each amino acid.[1] The key elements of an amino acid are carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), and nitrogen (N), although other elements are found in the side chains of certain amino acids. About 500 naturally occurring amino acids are known as of 1983 (though only 20 appear in the genetic code) and can be classified in many ways.[2]