Ipsen and PeptiDream expand peptide collaboration agreement

Ipsen and PeptiDream have expanded their April 2013 research collaboration and license option agreement to discover and develop therapeutic peptides to treat serious medical conditions.

The alliance will now be extended in scope to enable further therapeutic peptide candidates to enter research and development for additional serious endocrinologic diseases, with financial terms to be based on those of the original agreement.

Combining PeptiDream's proprietary Peptide Discovery Platform System with Ipsen's expertise in peptide drug discovery and pharmaceutical research, the collaboration will give Ipsen worldwide rights to commercialise any therapeutic peptides arising from the studies.

Claude Bertrand, executive vice-president for research and development and chief scientific officer at Ipsen, said: "The extension of the Ipsen-PeptiDream relationship is an important step in our collaboration to discover novel highly-selective peptides targeting specific serious diseases, using the synergies of skills and competencies between both companies."

This comes after the company announced a new collaboration with Harvard Medical School and agreed a deal to acquire Syntaxin earlier this year.