Wyeth and Sienabiotech in r&d collaboration

Rome, Italy-based, Sienabiotech has entered into an agreement with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to perform joint research and co-develop novel compounds, targeted towards treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and in particular Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, and the fourth leading cause of death in developed countries. It is a major health problem worldwide, and has enormous impact on individuals, families, the health care systems, and society as a whole. It is estimated that more than four million people in the U.S. and between six and seven millions in Western Europe currently suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and its prevalence doubles every five years beyond age 65, up to an incidence of 1:3 in people in their 80's. With the increasing ageing of the population in industrialised countries, the burden of disease in terms of social costs and quality of life is expected to increase substantially.

Under the terms of the drug discovery research and development agreement the two companies will collaborate in the following areas:

• validation of drug targets in the field of neurodegenerative diseases;

• screening and generation of hit compounds;

• biological, pharmacological and medicinal chemistry studies to develop lead compounds;

• lead optimisation up to development of candidate molecules to be considered for clinical development

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals will have the option to select candidate molecules for further pre-clinical and clinical development in the field and will have worldwide marketing rights for the pharmaceutical products that will result from the collaboration. Sienabiotech will have the option to develop compounds emerging from the collaboration for orphan disease indications. The two companies will be contributing with their respective Intellectual Property, assets and know-how, and will be exclusively collaborating on a number of undisclosed targets.

'The partnership with Sienabiotech is an exciting enhancement to Wyeth's already considerable neuroscience discovery effort,' said Dr Frank Walsh, senior vice president, Discovery Head, Wyeth Research. 'Wyeth believes that this collaboration will have the potential to make significant advances in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.'