20 Mar 2017 07:05
Arix Bioscience plc, LDC and University of Leeds collaborate to develop novel therapeutics for metabolic diseases
First project from Arix's agreement with LDC
LONDON, 20 MARCH 2017: Arix Bioscience plc (LSE:ARIX) ("Arix Bioscience" or "the Company"), a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation, has signed an agreement with the Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), Max Planck Innovation GmbH (MPI), and the University of Leeds to develop new therapeutics for metabolic diseases based on the discoveries from these organisations.
Under the terms of the agreement, Arix Bioscience will fund and manage experimental work that builds on fundamental discoveries from the faculty of cardiovascular medicine and diabetes at the University of Leeds and LDC, focusing on the development of antagonists of a novel target for a variety of metabolic indications.
LDC, established by Max Planck Innovation and the Max Planck Society to capitalise on the potential of research from Max Planck Institutes, takes basic pathobiology or novel targets from academia and uses its integrated drug discovery platform to produce new candidate therapies for development.
This collaboration originated from a strategic agreement signed between Arix Bioscience and LDC in 2016, under which the LDC shares pipeline projects with Arix Bioscience. This is the first project to arise from this agreement.
Joe Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of Arix Bioscience, commented: "Arix Bioscience aims to identify the best innovation in healthcare and life science and to use our permanent capital approach and strategic insight to support scientific teams in converting this innovation into proprietary development projects.
"We recently raised £100m in an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange from a range of high quality investors who are supportive of our strategy and enthusiastic about our pipeline. We believe the combination of capital and strategic guidance we can offer can have a transformative impact on early-stage scientific discovery.
"This collaboration with LDC and the University of Leeds on metabolic projects is the first fruit of Arix's partnership with the Lead Discovery Center and Max Planck Innovation GmbH, which demonstrates our ability to convert our high-quality relationships into tangible projects based on academic scientific excellence with long-term commercial potential."
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Arix Bioscience plc
Joe Anderson, CEO
+44 (0) 20 7290 1052
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott, Jessica Hodgson, Ivar Milligan
+44 (0)20 3709 5700
arix@consilium-comms.com
About Arix Bioscience plc
Arix Bioscience plc is a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation. Headquartered in London and with an office in New York, Arix Bioscience sources, finances and builds world class healthcare and life science businesses addressing medical innovation at all stages of development. Operations are supported by privileged access to breakthrough academic science and strategic relationships with leading research accelerators and global pharmaceutical companies.
Arix Bioscience plc is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.
For further information, please visit www.arixbioscience.com
About LDC
LDC was established in 2008 by the technology transfer organization Max Planck Innovation, as a novel approach to capitalize on the potential of excellent basic research for the discovery of new therapies for diseases with high medical need.
LDC takes on promising early-stage projects from academia and transforms them into innovative pharmaceutical leads that reach initial proof-of-concept in animals. In close collaboration with high-profile partners from academia and industry, the LDC is building a strong and growing portfolio of small molecule leads with exceptional medical and commercial potential.
The LDC sustains a preferred partnership with the Max Planck Society and has formed alliances with AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Daiichi Sankyo, Qurient, Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Roche as well as leading translational drug discovery centres around the globe.
For more details please go to: www.lead-discovery.de
About the University of Leeds
The University of Leeds has a long-standing history of working with entrepreneurs and venture firms to take innovative technologies discovered within its academic faculties through into commercialisation. The University has a strong track record in commercialisation with over 100 spin-out companies created since 1995 - the second highest number of any UK university - including 34 currently active and seven of which are market listed.
About Max-Planck-Innovation
Max Planck Innovation (MPI) is responsible for the technology transfer of the Max Planck Society and, as such, the link between industry and basic research. With its interdisciplinary team MPI advises and supports scientists in evaluating their inventions, filing patents and founding companies. For industry, MPI offers a unique access to the innovations of the Max Planck Institutes. Thus, MPI performs an important task: the transfer of basic research results into products, which contribute to the economic and social progress.
www.max-planck-innovation.de