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news.University of Cambridge genomics spin-out Paradigm Therapeutics Ltd has acquired fellow Cambridge, UK-based Amedis Pharmaceuticals, a medicinal chemistry and drug discovery firm. The transaction will create an enlarged company focusing on conditions in the areas of CNS, pain, endocrinology and metabolism.
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At merger, the enlarged company will have cash reserves of GBP11 million, approximately half of which is new investment secured from existing investors, Bio-1 Capital, Merlin Biosciences and Avlar BioVentures, on the back of the deal.
The company will focus on identifying highly druggable targets and novel compounds for conditions in the relevant therapeutic areas. It has two programs in late stage pre-clinical development as well as a number of earlier stage programs and opportunities.
Commenting on the strategic synergies of the deal, Edwin Moses, current non-executive chairman of both companies and executive chairman of the combined company, commented, “The merger of Amedis and Paradigm generates a company with a highly complementary mix of medicinal chemistry, target validation and drug discovery capabilities. This deal will accelerate Paradigm’s ability to progress promising therapeutic targets into novel drug candidates, establishing an extremely promising drug discovery company.”
Paradigm Therapeutics has a portfolio of novel patent protected drug targets identified using its proprietary in vivo functional genomics technology platform, with several drug discovery programs ready for lead identification. The acquisition of Amedis Pharmaceuticals brings a range of medicinal chemistry expertise to the company, including a proprietary silicon chemistry platform, as well as state-of-the-art medicinal chemistry expertise, together with a number of complementary research programs, including the two pre-clinical programs in CNS and endocrinology (cancer).
The company’s business model will be to seek collaborative partners to take its pre-clinical leads through clinical development. It will also seek to out license targets that are not being exploited in house, as well as strategic alliances on its platform technologies in areas outside of its therapeutic focus.
Post-merger, the current CEO of Paradigm Therapeutics, Mark Carlton, will become COO and John Montana, outgoing CEO of Amedis, will become the CSO. The company will operate as Paradigm Therapeutics and consolidate to occupy one location on the Cambridge Science Park. Post-merger, the company’s growth plans will see it grow by around 30% between the UK and the Singapore operations.