Aquapharm signs agreement to screen its marine compound library for Albany Molecular

14 Jul 2010 | News

Collaboration

Aquapharm Biodiscovery Ltd, a specialist in the discovery of natural products from marine micro-organisms, has agreed a research agreement with Nasdaq-listed Albany Molecular Research to identify novel drug-like compounds and scaffolds with anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory activity.

Under the terms of this agreement, Albany will screen Aquapharm’s library against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and an undisclosed anti-inflammatory target and will then isolate and elucidate the structures of any novel hits. Aquapharm retains all rights to compounds resulting from the collaboration.

Simon Best CEO said the collaboration represents a major step-forward for Aquapharm in realising the potential of its marine assets and expertise in the pharmaceutical sector. It builds on its established deals with the industrial ingredients company Croda plc to develop novel bio-active ingredients for the personal care industry and with the Indian pharma company Dr Reddy’s to develop bio-catalysts.

“We are confident that this collaboration will exploit the novelty, diversity and drug-like characteristics of the compounds, which we know from pilot studies are abundantly produced by marine micro-organisms. These represent a virtually untapped source of compounds and scaffolds with many attractive characteristics to form the basis of numerous drug-discovery partnerships,” Best said.

“We have a wealth of experience accumulated from developing and mining our own extensive terrestrial natural product library, and we are pleased to apply this experience to Aquapharm’s marine derived library,” said Bruce Sargent, Albany’s Vice President, Discovery Research and Development.

Initial results from this research agreement are expected during 2011. AMRI has broad screening capabilities and moreover particular expertise in seeking antibacterial natural products, having successfully completed its own internal screen of its collections yielding multiple lead compounds effective against MRSA and E.Coli organisms.

From its base at the European Centre for Marine Biotechnology in Oban, Scotland, Aquapharm has built a substantial and specialised collection of marine bacteria and fungi from a variety of diverse habitats, from which it has derived its compound library.

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