LONDON and BOSTON, November 30,
2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Heptares Therapeutics ("Heptares"), the clinical-stage GPCR
structure-guided drug discovery and development company and
wholly-owned subsidiary of Sosei Group Corporation ("Sosei"; TSE
Mothers Index: 4565), announces that it has entered into a
strategic drug discovery collaboration with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE)
to research and develop potential new medicines directed at up to
10 G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) targets across multiple
therapeutic areas.
Heptares will use its proprietary GPCR structure-guided platform
to help deliver stabilised GPCRs (StaR® proteins), high-resolution
crystal structures and other technologies to support the discovery
of potential novel agents directed to the GPCR targets selected by
Pfizer. Pfizer will be responsible for developing and
commercialising any potential therapeutic agents (small molecules
or biologics derived from StaR antigens) for each target and will
have exclusive global rights to any potential resulting agents.
Heptares will receive an initial payment on signing the
agreement in return for delivering certain StaR proteins and
structures for targets selected by Pfizer that it has already
generated.
Heptares is eligible to receive potential research, development,
regulatory and commercial milestone payments of up to USD189 million per target. In addition, Heptares
is eligible to receive potential tiered royalties on the net sales
of any products that are commercialised by Pfizer.
In addition, Sosei and Pfizer Seiyaku KK ("Pfizer KK") have
entered into an equity agreement under which Pfizer KK will
purchase USD33 million of newly
issued Sosei common stock at a premium of 25% to the average
closing price during the 20-day period prior to the closing date.
The closing is expected to be in December
2015. The investment will represent approximately 3.02% of
the enlarged Sosei share capital and is subject to review by
Japanese financial authorities.
"This extensive partnership with Pfizer is an important step
toward realizing full potential of Heptares' technology. Alliances
of this kind also play an important role in achieving Sosei's
ambition for becoming a leading global biopharmaceutical company of
Japanese origin," commented Shinichi
Tamura, CEO of Sosei Group.
Commenting on the agreement, Malcolm
Weir, Chief Executive Officer of Heptares and Chief R&D
Officer of Sosei Group, said: "This strategic collaboration with
Pfizer, spanning as it does many targets and indications, is
another significant achievement for Heptares and recognises the
potential clinical benefit that may be realisable through the
combination of our continuing leadership in GPCR structure-based
design technology and Pfizer's global therapeutic drug discovery
and development capabilities. We are delighted to be
embarking on this new collaboration and look forward to an exciting
and productive relationship."
"Pfizer looks forward to this collaboration with Heptares to
help us more quickly screen and identify lead GPCR programs across
multiple therapeutic areas within our preclinical portfolio and,
ultimately, help us increase the speed at which we bring potential
new therapies to patients," said Rod
MacKenzie, senior vice president, PharmaTherapeutics
Research & Development at Pfizer.
Notes to Editors
About Heptares Therapeutics
Heptares is a clinical-stage company creating transformative
medicines targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a
superfamily of 375 receptors linked to a wide range of human
diseases. Heptares proprietary structure-based drug design
technology enables us to engineer drugs for highly validated, yet
historically undruggable or challenging, GPCRs. Using this
approach, we have built an exciting pipeline of new medicines with
the potential to transform the treatment of Alzheimer's disease,
schizophrenia, cancer (immuno-oncology), migraine, addiction,
metabolic disease, and other indications. Our pharmaceutical
partners include Pfizer, AstraZeneca, MedImmune, MorphoSys and
Teva. Heptares is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sosei Group
Corporation. For more information, please visit
http://www.heptares.com and http://www.sosei.com.
HEPTARES is a registered trademark in the EU, Switzerland, US and Japan;
StaR® is a registered trademark in the EU
and Japan.
About Sosei
Sosei is a biopharmaceutical company originating from
Japan but with global presence.
Sosei's primary business model is based on identifying novel and/or
differentiated product assets or technology platforms and, through
supporting these in preclinical and clinical development and
establishing commercial partnerships, advancing new medicines to
patients worldwide. For more information about Sosei, please visit
http://www.sosei.com
SOURCE Heptares Therapeutics