UK Medical Research Council in licensing deal with Genentech

Licensing

MRC Technology Ltd, the technology transfer arm of the UK’s Medical Research Council, has agreed a license with US biotech Genentech for a series of small molecule drug candidates for the treatment of neurological diseases.

This is the first small molecule chemistry programme to come out of MRC Technology’s Centre for Therapeutics Discovery (CTD) and the first small molecule collaboration the CTD has formed with an industry partner.

CTD was established by MRC Technology to fill the gap between the results of the publicly-funded research and technology that will appeal to industry. It picks up biology and targets discovered in academic programmes and takes these through to the point where there is preclinical data in animal models, before looking to outlicense.  

Under the terms of the agreement with Genentech, part of Roche, MRC Technology will receive an upfront payment and is eligible to receive clinical development milestone payments and royalties on any sales. Full financial terms and the target of the small molecule project were not disclosed.

CTD was formed one year ago from the MRC Technology Drug Discovery Group, expanding its capability and capacity to provide a national drug discovery resource with the critical mass. MRC Technology works with targets not only from the UK’s Medical Research Council but has a pipeline of targets from academic organisations worldwide.

Dave Tapolczay, CEO of MRC Technology, said, “We are delighted that we have been able to partner this programme with Genentech, and extremely pleased that the terms of our agreement reflect the value of the small molecule drug discovery programme and support our innovative business model.”

Tapolczay said the deal is just one example of the ways that MRC Technology is now exploiting both its small molecule and therapeutic antibody capabilities. Last week it announced another industrial collaboration, this time with AstraZeneca plc, under which MRC Technology will screen 100,000 compounds belonging to AstraZeneca and 50,000 compounds in its own library, against targets nominated by AstraZeneca, and also against novel targets arising from research funded by the MRC.

MRC Technology also announced plans to collaborate with its counterpart tech transfer body at the charity Cancer Research UK. Between them, the MRC and Cancer Research UK put £1.1 billion per annum into biomedical research. “We can collaborate with other technology transfer organisations, on a shared risk basis, to develop small molecule drug discovery programmes and targets with therapeutic potential. When the resulting clinical candidate is subsequently licensed, both parties will not only accomplish their translational research aims, but also share in its commercial success going forward,” Tapolczay said.