Xention and Ono extend drug discovery agreement
Collaboration to continue for a third year
Xention, a Cambridge, UK-based biopharmaceutical firm specialising in the discovery and development of ion channel-modulating drugs, has extended its collaboration with Ono Pharmaceutical Co of Osaka, Japan.
The drug discovery agreement between the companies was entered into in March 2009 for a two-year term. The collaboration has been successful in identifying multiple compounds that selectively modulate the function of target ion channels, and the partners have now agreed to extend their collaboration for a further year.
Under the agreement, Xention is applying its expertise to the identification, design and synthesis of small molecules against ion channels selected by Ono.
Ono is responsible for subsequent pre-clinical, clinical development and worldwide commercialisation of any new pharmaceutical products arising from the collaboration.
Ono will continue to fund the research programme, and Xention will receive milestone payments on meeting specified drug discovery targets and on Ono’s reaching development and regulatory goals. Xention will also receive royalties on sales of any commercialised products.
‘We are certain that during the extended collaboration period Xention will identify novel and potent development compounds that modulate our targets of interest selectively,’ said Kazuhito Kawabata, managing director, research headquarters at Ono.