PsychoGenics and AstraZeneca in agreement to identify new treatments
for central nervous system disorders
5 September 2009
PsychoGenics Inc. and AstraZeneca have entered into a drug discovery
and development agreement to identify compounds that are likely to be
useful for the treatment of certain central nervous system (CNS)
disorders.
Under the agreement, PsychoGenics will use its proprietary drug
discovery technologies to evaluate a number of AstraZeneca drug
candidates for their potential to treat psychiatric disorders.
PsychoGenics will receive research payments and milestones commensurate
with the stage of development, as well as royalties on any future sales.
Dr. Emer Leahy, President and CEO of PsychoGenics said, "We are
excited about this collaboration and look forward to working with
AstraZeneca’s scientific team. We are confident that, with AstraZeneca’s
compound libraries and expertise in CNS drug discovery and our
proprietary drug discovery approach, we have an excellent opportunity to
identify novel and improved treatments for serious psychiatric
disorders.”
Dr. Frank Yocca, Vice President and Head of Research Area CNS & Pain,
AstraZeneca R&D Wilmington, said, “We are continuously seeking
opportunities to collaborate with those who share our commitment to
pursuing novel therapies. We are eager to start our work with
PsychoGenics in this important area of research, and we are excited to
be able to access their innovative technologies and to leverage their
expertise in neurobiology.”
PsychoGenics has developed proprietary high-throughput drug discovery
platforms that combine expertise in behavioural neurobiology with the
power of robotics, bioinformatics and computer vision to discover the
next generation of neuropsychiatric drugs. Working in collaboration with
pharmaceutical and biotech companies, PsychoGenics has been instrumental
in identifying the therapeutic potential of discontinued and early stage
compounds, including some with novel “first-in-class” mechanisms of
action.
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