In the collaboration which was initiated only about two years ago in 2003, Pharmacopeia scientists identified lead compounds – from Pharmacopeia’s proprietary collection of 7.5 million drug-like small-molecules – acting at Celgene’s inflammation-related kinase target. The optimization of the potent and selective lead compounds to a pre-clinical development compound took little more than a year, so that the total time taken from target selection through to development was well under two years.
Pharmacopeia is entitled to on-going payments to the extent Celgene advances the program into and through clinical development, including annual payments and milestone payments at classical value inflection points. Pharmacopeia is further entitled to royalties on commercial sales of any products resulting from this collaboration.
It will be interesting to see whether or not their success will continue into 2005, but it appears as though they have the right formula for success, especially in view of the large library of compunds and lead drugs identified by Pharmacopeia. Certainly a testament to the capabilities of combinatorial chemistry, now at least twenty years old.
Pharmacopeia Drug Discovery, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the creation of new small molecule therapeutics to address significant unmet medical needs. Using proprietary technologies and processes, Pharmacopeia identifies, optimizes, and develops novel drug candidates in collaboration with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and, increasingly, through its own internally-funded drug discovery programs, which are focused primarily on immunobiology and immunological diseases.
Pharmacopeia’s later stage portfolio currently comprises multiple partnered programs that have been advanced into human clinical trials with further programs in late-stage pre-clinical development. Additionally, Pharmacopeia has approximately forty partnered and internal programs in discovery, which are expected to drive the company’s clinical portfolio in the future. Pharmacopeia is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.
Celgene Corporation, headquartered in Summit, New Jersey, is an integrated global biopharmaceutical company engaged primarily in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases through gene and protein regulation.
