Organon collaborates with UK research firm

Organon, the healthcare business of Akzo Nobel, is to go into a collaborative research agreement with UK firm Sareum Holdings.

The aim of the agreement is to develop new therapies for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Sareum will determine the three-dimensional structures of two of the Organon autoimmune disease protein targets and then deploy its template screening method to identify new compounds suitable for drug development.

Sareum chief executive Dr Tim Mitchell said: “We are delighted that Organon has chosen Sareum as their partner in drug lead identification and optimisation.

“This is the largest collaboration we have signed to date and brings together our expertise in protein structure determination, template screening and automated chemistry. We look forward to successfully identifying novel drug leads for this important therapeutic area.”

Although financial details have not been released Sareum will receive research fees and milestone payments.

© Adfero Ltd