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news.Biopharmaceutical companies MethylGene and EnVivo Pharmaceuticals have signed an exclusive collaboration agreement to research, develop and commercialize therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.
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The collaboration will use MethylGene’s isotypic selective, small molecule, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors and EnVivo’s proprietary in vivo models and discovery platform for neurodegenerative diseases.
MethylGene will receive an upfront license payment and contract research payments totaling $1.1 million during the initial year of the collaboration. The two companies thereafter intend to jointly fund research, development and commercialization and will equally share the resulting profits.
In July 2004, EnVivo exercised its option to enter into an exclusive collaboration agreement with MethylGene upon successfully completing a proof of concept study.
“The execution of this collaboration agreement is another milestone in MethylGene’s efforts to capitalize on our significant HDAC expertise and further validates the value of our HDAC program beyond our current oncology focus,” said Donald Corcoran, president and CEO of MethylGene. “We will continue to exploit potential non-oncology HDAC indications through partnerships and in-house research efforts.”
HDAC are a family of 11 enzymes that are involved in the regulation of gene expression and as such may be master regulators for disease. It has been observed that isotypic selective inhibition of certain HDAC enzymes may have the potential to impact diseases including cancer, diabetes, inflammation, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.
MethylGene is currently developing MGCD0103, an isotypic selective inhibitor targeting specific HDAC enzymes involved in the regulation of tumor suppressor genes in cancer. MGCD0103 is currently in phase I dose-escalating monotherapy trials for solid tumors and hematological malignancies.