Verona ties up with Glycomar on polysaccharides

Collaboration agreed

Verona Pharma plc of London has signed a new collaboration agreement to advance work on one of the three key programmes in its drug discovery and development portfolio with the Scottish marine biotechnology company, GlycoMar Ltd.

Under its Novel Anti-inflammatory Polysaccharides programme Glycomar has identified a number of active compounds in the marine environment and validated them in cellular assays. The company is now is moving to experimental proof-of-concept studies in animals.

Using the results of these studies and further work Verona aims to identify drug leads for development as novel treatments for respiratory conditions such as asthma and hay fever and for other diseases in which inflammation has a substantial role.