Evotec and Panacos in HIV drug agreement

German drug discovery and development company Evotec OAI has entered into a medicinal chemistry collaboration with Panacos Pharmaceuticals, a US biotech company developing novel antiviral drugs for the treatment of HIV infection and other major viral diseases. Panacos will use Evotec OAI's range of medicinal chemistry capabilities to identify drug candidates for the treatment of HIV infection.

Panacos recently began Phase I clinical trials of PA-457, its small molecule, orally available HIV drug candidate. PA-457 is the first in a new class of HIV drugs called maturation inhibitors. PA-457 exhibits potent activity against HIV strains resistant to current therapies, including inhibitors of reverse transcriptase and viral protease. The company also has an active discovery programme focusing on the identification of small molecule inhibitors of viral fusion to human cells.