The new agreement expands the existing collaboration between Epix and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics (CFFT) and increases payments from CFFT by up to $37.7 million. As a result, the total potential value of the collaboration has increased to more than $50 million. The expanded agreement follows Epix’s successful development of a validated, virtual 3-D molecule of the full length Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane conductance Regulator (CFTR), announced in January 2008.
Michael Kauffman, CEO of Epix, said: “By utilizing our proprietary in silico technology to model the CFTR ion channel, we were able to quickly discover novel CFTR modulators that are fueling our structure-based optimization approach. The results achieved to date through this collaboration provide an excellent platform and a promising path forward as we move our CFTR program into lead optimization and potentially into clinical development.”