Polyphor announces PEM drug discovery collaboration with Novartis

Collaboration

Polyphor Ltd has entered into a drug discovery collaboration with Novartis, under which it will apply its proprietary PEM (Protein Epitope Mimetics) drug discovery technology to identify drug candidates against targets of interest to Novartis.

Novartis will make an upfront payment, provide research funding and pay milestones as candidate molecules progress through the drug discovery process, preclinical and clinical development and onto the market. In addition, Polyphor is eligible to receive royalties on the commercial sales of approved products.

PEM drugs have been shown to interfere in a highly potent and selective manner with large surface protein-protein interactions and other intractable drug targets. Polyphor will be responsible for the design, synthesis and optimisation of PEM drug candidates and Novartis will be responsible for the clinical development and commercialisation of jointly developed products.