Biotica signs agreement for Inpharmatica ADME services
to drug discovery company Biotica Technology under a new two-year
agreement signed this week.
Biotica, a company spun out of Cambridge University that develops bioengineered polyketides from actinomycete bacteria, will have access to in vitro ADME screening, analysis and interpretation of ADME data, to develop novel rapamycin analogues and other anti-proliferatives with optimal pharmacokinetic properties.
Inpharmatica added a new suite of ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion) capabilities to its drug lead optimisation services when it bought lab and intellectual property from Arqule last year. The new deal with Biotica demonstrates increasing recognition for its ADME services.
Financial terms of the two-year agreement were not disclosed.
The world-wide sales of polyketide-derived pharmaceuticals exceeds $17 billion and covers a range of therapeutic applications including anti-bacterials, anti-fungals, immunosuppressants, anti-hyperlipidaemics, anti-cancer and anti-parasitics. Biotica's technology is said to be capable of generating novel polyketide structures which are inaccessible by other methods.
Dr Mike Tarbit, senior VP of Preclinical R&D at Inpharmatica, said: "This agreement illustrates the increasing recognition of Inpharmatica's ADME expertise in all areas of drug discovery, including non-small molecule natural products. Our ADME group is structured to provide fully flexible solutions to meet the increasing need for effective compound design and lead optimisation in small biotech companies through to large pharma."
