Galapagos, University Of Bristol Collaborate To Develop Analgesic Drug Treatments

The drug development work is supported by a Seeding Drug Discovery Award from the Wellcome Trust, to a team of researchers led by David Wynick, professor of molecular medicine at the University of Bristol.

Galapagos said that the hit-to-lead and lead optimisation services for a Wellcome Trust funded program at the University of Bristol are expected to be provided by its service division BioFocus. Total contract value for Galapagos could exceed EUR3.3m in research fees over two years.

Galapagos and the University of Bristol said that the aim of the project is to develop a new analgesic drug based on the protein galanin, a small protein that has been shown to reduce neuropathic pain in a number of models of diseases, including diabetes.

In earlier studies, several compounds from the BioFocus screening collection were shown to amplify the therapeutic effect of galanin in-vitro. In the two-year collaboration, BioFocus is expected to provide medicinal chemistry, biology and ADME/PK for this research project, with the goal to optimise these molecules for the treatment of diabetic neuropathic pain.

Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos, said: “We are pleased that the University of Bristol has expanded and extended this successful relationship into other areas of BioFocus expertise.”

David Wynick from the University of Bristol, said: “Molecules from the BioFocus collection have shown promise in amplifying the therapeutic properties of galanin in models of neuropathic pain.

“In this new collaboration with BioFocus, we aim to further optimise these molecules into clinical candidates for the treatment of chronic pain associated with diseases such as diabetes.”

Rick Davis, business development manager at the Wellcome Trust, said: “We are pleased to support this project, which addresses an area of unmet clinical need.”