Servier, a global independent pharmaceutical Group, and PRISM BioLab, a Japan based biotechnology company with proprietary small molecule drug discovery platform, “PepMetics™Technology^”, today announced that they have entered into a Collaboration and Exclusive License Option Agreement.

Under the collaboration agreement, PepMetics™ technology provided by PRISM BioLab are utilized to identify from their library or synthetize, characterize, and optimize small molecule compounds capable of binding and stimulating the activity of the target specified by Servier.

Wesley Blackaby, Ph.D, Head of Chemistry at Servier says: “We look forward to working with PRISM BioLab in this collaboration. The PRISM BioLab technology has the potential to help with the identification and optimization of novel compounds against hard to drug targets, in particular in cancer, which is one of the Group’s priority R&D areas.”

Upon finding the lead compounds, Servier has the option to license the lead compounds for further optimization and clinical development.

PRISM BioLab will receive collaboration fee and option fees payments under the Option Agreement, and further milestones and royalty payments under the License Agreement. Specific financial terms are not disclosed.

Dai Takehara, President and CEO, PRISM BioLab, says: “We are delighted to partner with Servier who is committed to delivering therapy for patients by challenging novel targets.  Our proprietary PepMetics™ Technology has generated various pipelines for previously undruggable targets, and our team is excited to challenge Servier’s novel target together.”

PepMetics™ Molecules are designed to mimic α-helix or β-turn peptide using unique scaffold with corresponding dihedral angles. These motifs are essential for protein-protein interactions within the cell especially related to transcription and translation.

Using this technology, two clinical stage pipelines for cancer and fibrosis have been developed and licensed to Japanese Pharma companies, and many early pipelines and research seeds are created for novel and previously undruggable targets.

Véronique Blanc, Ph.D, Research Program Head – Immuno-Oncology at Servier, says: “Intra-cellular pathways and targets offer multiple opportunities to modulate the innate and adaptive immune response in cancer and represent a source of future innovation, that we are committed to explore. As many immune-oncology intracellular targets are difficult to drug, the design of innovative and adapted modulators is critical for the development of new drugs.”