Medivir partners with GVK BIO to optimise R&D
Company reorganises its discovery and research operations and focuses on key areas of oncology and infectious diseases
Medivir is reorganising its Discovery Research department, increasing its focus on core areas of oncology and infectious diseases, and a partnership with GVK Biosciences (GVK BIO) of Hyderabad, India to enhance the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and quality of its research projects.
To ensure that its operations are run as efficiently as possible, Medivir has conducted a review of its discovery research operations. While committed to maintaining the current size of its discovery portfolio to deliver a constant flow of candidate drugs into its development pipeline, it has identified the opportunity to improve quality and efficiency by partnering with GVK BIO.
The partnership will consolidate and strengthen all currently outsourced synthetic chemistry in a single facility at GVK BIO’s Integrated Discovery Research Campus, where an additional 20 scientific staff will further accelerate the synthesis and testing of compounds.
The company has also decided to leave the neuropathic pain area, following adverse findings in non-clinical safety studies of MIV-247, its cathepsin S inhibitor. Development of this programme has been terminated and future drug discovery efforts will be focused in the core areas of oncology and infectious diseases.
‘We continue to assess all aspects of the productivity and cost-effectiveness of our businesses to drive innovation and maximise shareholder value,’ said Niklas Prager, Medivir CEO. ‘This reorganisation and resource optimisation will improve efficiency and enhance our ability to deliver well-differentiated candidate drugs into our development pipeline. We look forward to a productive partnership with our colleagues at GVK BIO.’
