Bachem and Atheris to collaborate on Melusine programme

Bachem has announced that it will be allying with Atheris Laboratories to market the Melusine venom peptide libraries as a potential source for drug development opportunities.

The agreement will see the two science companies working together to help clients identify potential active ingredients from the collections, before assisting in the creation of promising drug candidates.

Atheris's Melusine libraries are composed of natural products isolated from animal venoms, including peptide toxins, which are regarded as an important study target in developing peptide-based therapeutics.

The partnership will see Atheris screen the Melusine compounds for lead selection purposes, with Bachem offering custom syntheses for compounds and clinical development support.

Dr Lester Mills, chief marketing officer of Bachem, said: "Melusine collections represent innovative products and will encourage the development of peptide therapeutics in this class to further strengthen Bachem's worldwide leadership in peptide manufacturing."

Last month, Bachem published its financial report for the second quarter of 2010, during which it noted increasing demand following a difficult opening to the year.