Roche and Aileron to collaborate on stapled peptide therapeutics

Roche is to collaborate with Aileron Therapeutics on research into a new class of drugs, which could potentially have applications in multiple treatment areas.

The alliance centres on stapled peptide therapeutics, a new type of therapy spearheaded by Aileron, which locks peptides into their biologically active shape in order to endow them with beneficial drug-like properties.

It is thought that this technique may provide solutions to several previously drug-intractable disease targets, including conditions related to intracellular protein-protein interactions.

The two companies will therefore work to develop drug candidates in key areas such as oncology, virology and metabolism, with Aileron set to receive up to $1.1 billion (714.2 billion pounds) in milestone payments should the treatments be successfully commercialised.

Jean-Jacques Garaud, global head of Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, said: "Stapled peptides represent a potentially transformative new technology to create drugs for important disease targets that are intractable to currently available modalities."

Last month, Roche published its financial report for the second quarter of 2010, reporting a five per cent year-on-year increase in sales.