Sunesis Enters Collaboration With Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C. To Discover New Small Molecule Therapeutics
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that the company has entered into a research collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C., to discover small molecule enzyme inhibitors for the treatment of major chronic diseases, including inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Sunesis will apply its proprietary "Target Directed Lead Discovery" technology, the company's novel approach to increase the efficiency and productivity of small molecule pharmaceutical discovery, to this collaboration.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sunesis will receive upfront payments, research funding, and research and development milestones, as well as royalty payments based on an exclusive, worldwide license to products resulting from the collaboration. The specific terms of the collaboration are undisclosed.
"We are excited to be entering into this collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, one of the leading research- based global pharmaceutical firms, and we expect that this program will result in breakthrough therapeutics for major chronic diseases," stated James Young, Ph.D., CEO of Sunesis.
Dr. Young added, "Sunesis' business strategy is to fully capitalize on the potential of our powerful discovery platform by selective collaboration with pharmaceutical partners, while retaining rights to other programs."
Sunesis' "Target Directed Lead Discovery" reliably generates small- molecule leads against challenging enzyme targets and protein-protein interfaces by screening greater diversity space and identifying binding ligands that other techniques such as high throughput screening are too insensitive to find. Sunesis' approach can dramatically reduce the number of compounds that must be tested to provide novel leads for pharmaceutical development, resulting in savings of time and resources.
Founded in 1998, Sunesis is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics that inhibit protein-protein and enzyme targets. Sunesis' strategy is to focus initially on highly validated targets that have an established clinical path and will be first-in-class therapeutics or orally available replacements to injectable protein-based therapeutics, such as monoclonal antibodies. Sunesis intends to pursue certain targets on behalf of corporate pharmaceutical partners using its discovery technology to generate lead compounds. In addition, Sunesis will selectively pursue other compounds and targets for internal development... |
