LONDON (Alliance News) - Allied Minds PLC on Monday said its joint venture with US drug company Bristol-Myers Squibb Co has entered into a licensing deal with Harvard University.
The US-focused science and technology development and commercialisation company, which is a FTSE 250 constituent, said its Allied-Bristol Life Sciences LLC joint venture has entered into the deal with Harvard based on research and intellectual property developed by Professor Malcolm Whitman at the college's School of Dental Medicine.
The team, led by Whitman, has identified the mechanism of action behind a known natural product, halofuginone, or HF. HF is a chemical compound based on an active ingredient in the root of the blue evergreen hydrangea, which has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. The team has identified several lead molecules in the compound which could be used for treating conditions including fibrotic and autoimmune diseases.
The licensing agreement with Harvard's Office of Technology Development is among the first in a series of discovery and development projects that Allied-Bristol Life Sciences intends to pursue, Allied Minds said. The licence to the technology from Whitman's lab will be held by a new ABLS subsidiary specifically formed to pursue further research and pre-clinical development of the technology and associated molecules.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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