Novartis extends drug discovery agreement

Novartis has announced it has extended a research, development and discovery agreement with Myogen, a biopharmaceutical company that develops small molecule therapies.

The two-year extension will focus on the development of drugs for the treatment of heart muscle disease, furthering a previous collaboration between the companies running since September 2003. They also have another collaboration in operation for a histone deacetylase inhibitor for heart disease.

Novartis will now provide research funding to Myogen until October 2008 in exchange for licensing rights for products developed during the partnership. The agreement also entails milestone payments and royalties if the products are successfully marketed.

Having already received three milestone payments, Myogen also has the option to enter into a profit-sharing agreement with Novartis after the completion of phase II trials, in which case Myogen would reimburse Novartis some of the research costs.

Richard Gorczynski, senior vice-president of research and development at Myogen, stated: “We are delighted with the progress made to date under our collaboration agreement and we are pleased to extend the collaboration for an additional two years.”

“We believe our research programs have significant potential therapeutic value. Through this collaboration, we have an exciting opportunity to advance the discovery and development of novel small molecule compounds for treatment of cardiac diseases,” he added.

Novartis has research agreements with other companies, including MorphoSys for monoclonal antibody development purposes. The Swiss pharmaceutical company is also in the process of purchasing NeuTec, a British bioresearch firm based in Manchester.

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