Cyclenium Pharma Inc., an emerging pharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery and development of novel drug candidates based on proprietary macrocyclic chemistry and Fundación MEDINA (Fundación Centro de Excelencia en Investigación de Medicamentos Innovadores en Andalucía), a non-profit research organization established through a private-public partnership between the Government of Andalucía (Spain), the University of Granada and Merck Sharp and Dohme de España S.A., announced today the signing of a drug discovery and collaboration agreement. The collaboration will utilize Cyclenium’s proprietary QUEST Library™ of next generation macrocyclic molecules and associated hit-to-clinical candidate optimization capabilities in concert with the extensive expertise and experience of Fundación MEDINA in infective disease research. The objective of the collaboration is to discover new anti-infective drug candidates effective against a number of clinically important bacterial and fungal pathogens. For Cyclenium, this is the fourth discovery collaboration established over the past year.
«We are extremely excited about entering into this unique drug discovery collaboration with the Fundación MEDINA in one of our therapeutic focus areas,» stated Helmut Thomas, Ph.D., President & Chief Executive Officer of Cyclenium. «The combination of their superb team and world class expertise in anti-infective research with our CMRT™ Technology and proven development success in the macrocycle arena offers an excellent opportunity for discovering desperately needed novel pharmaceutical agents against high priority, treatment resistant, bacterial and fungal organisms.»
«This relationship represents a strategic collaboration to identify novel drugs in the area of infectious diseases from the exploitation of Cyclenium’s unique library complementing the chemical diversity of our natural product libraries,» said Olga Genilloud, Ph.D., Scientific Director, Fundación MEDINA. «MEDINA provides the expertise and tools to maximize the probability of success in the collaboration with Cyclenium and the discovery of promising compounds for the treatment of serious multidrug resistant infections.»
About Cyclenium Pharma Inc.
Cyclenium Pharma is an emerging, privately-held pharmaceutical research and development company exploiting its proprietary next generation CMRT™ macrocyclic drug discovery technology for the discovery and development of novel small molecule therapeutic agents to address areas of unsatisfied medical need. Cyclenium is creating value through progression of programs in oncology, infectious diseases and inflammation/pain on its own and in partnership with leading academic and non-profit organizations as well as collaborations with innovative pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking to modulate unique and difficult disease targets in diverse therapeutic areas.
About Fundación MEDINA
Fundación MEDINA is a non-profit research organisation established in Granada, Spain, from the private-public partnership between the Government of Andalucía, the University of Granada and Merck Sharp and Dohme de España S.A. Fundación MEDINA owns one of the largest and most chemically diverse microbial natural product libraries of extracts with a long track record of success in delivering novel drug candidates in the pharmaceutical sector. Fundación MEDINA has a unique expertise in natural products microbiology, chemistry and high throughput screening, and is developing drug discovery programs in infectious diseases (including tuberculosis and parasitic diseases), oncology, and rare diseases. Fundación MEDINA is establishing contract research collaborations and partnerships with pharma and biotech companies to discover novel therapeutics.
