The new programs will cover various disease areas, including immunology, metabolic disorders, and oncology.
Per the agreement, Charles River is eligible to receive milestone payments from Nimbus for undisclosed program advancements.
While the companies have previously worked together on a project-by-project basis, the establishment of the official partnership “signals the next phase in [the] relationship,” Birgit Girshick, Corporate Senior Vice President, Global Discovery Services at Charles River Labs told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
“Nimbus and Charles River will work together closely throughout their full drug discovery program,” she said. “We’re excited to work with Nimbus to help them push their programs through the drug discovery pipeline and to provide the scalability they require to advance an increased number of programs.”
Jeb Keiper, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer at Nimbus Therapeutics, explained that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company has never had its own labs, and instead, has a history of collaborative, fee-for-service (FFS) relationships with CROs.
“This partnership goes much beyond the traditional FFS model but is a true project-based risk sharing, where CRL performs service at risk, and can earn milestones for successful program advancement,” Keiper told us.
Scientific staff at Nimbus and Charles River will jointly manage the project, though Charles River will execute the trial.
“We see our partnership as one focused on streamlining the drug discovery process—instead of partnering with as many as 25 CROs at different stages, Nimbus will work with Charles River from early hit identification through IND submission,” said Girshick. “Our goal is to work side-by-side with their researchers and become engrained, making our combined team stronger and more effective.”