Ipsen and Harvard Medical School announce research alliance

Ipsen has announced a new collaboration with Harvard Medical School that will focus on the development of novel engineered botulinum toxins.

The alliance will see Ipsen providing Harvard with funding for at least three years to help it discover, evaluate and develop novel engineered recombinant botulinum toxins for the treatment of serious neurologic diseases.

Combining Harvard's discovery platform and botulinum toxins engineering expertise with Ipsen's drug discovery and pharmaceutical research and development capabilities, the collaboration will benefit patients suffering from highly debilitating conditions.

Ipsen will gain exclusive worldwide rights to commercialise any new products stemming from the joint research.

Claude Bertrand, executive vice-president for research and development and chief scientific officer at Ipsen, said: "This collaboration further strengthens Ipsen's position in biotechnology as a major player focused on the discovery and development of therapeutic toxins to provide innovative therapies for patients with serious neurologic disorders."

This comes after the firm announced the acquisition of botulinum toxin engineering specialist Syntaxin earlier this month.