Axys Pharmaceuticals and Roche Bioscience Form Strategic Alliance in Functional Genomics

Axys Pharmaceuticals and Roche Bioscience announced a collaboration to evaluate the function of genes provided by Roche Bioscience as potential targets for therapies in pain and other conditions involving peripheral nervous system disorders. The alliance will utilize Axys' functional genomic technologies and the model animal system Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), which has the most completely sequenced genome of any animal.

Key Takeaways:

• Axys and Roche Bioscience will collaborate on functional genomics research to identify novel therapeutic targets for pain and peripheral nervous system disorders.
• The collaboration will utilize Axys' functional genomic technologies and C. elegans, a well-studied model animal system with close cellular and molecular mechanisms to human disease.
• Roche Bioscience will provide Axys with a set of novel genes and pay an upfront fee, with Axys retaining rights to develop gene therapy and therapeutic protein products acting upon targets discovered during the collaboration.
• The initial term of the agreement is 15 months, with Roche Bioscience holding an option to extend the agreement to 24 months.
• Dan Petree, Axys' president and COO, stated that the alliance will leverage Axys' state-of-the-art functional genomics platform and showcase its powerful functional genomics systems.
• Roger Whiting, Ph.D., senior vice president and head of the Neurobiology Unit at Roche Bioscience, noted that C. elegans is an excellent model system for functional genomics and that Axys' NemaPharm technology is a leader in that area.

Statistics:

• The collaboration will utilize Axys' functional genomic technologies and C. elegans, a model animal system with the most completely sequenced genome of any animal.
• The initial term of the agreement is 15 months, with Roche Bioscience holding an option to extend the agreement to 24 months.
• Axys has research collaborations with world-class pharmaceutical companies, covering a broad range of therapeutic areas, including respiratory, cardiovascular, and infectious disease, as well as oncology and central nervous system disorders.
• Located in Palo Alto, Calif., Roche Bioscience is a research-based, business-oriented enterprise dedicated to the discovery and accelerated early clinical development of innovative prescription drugs.

Sources:

• BW HealthWire - "Axys Pharmaceuticals and Roche Bioscience Form Strategic Alliance"
• Axys Pharmaceuticals website - "Axys and Roche Bioscience Enter into Strategic Alliance"
• Roche Bioscience website - "Roche Bioscience Collaborates with Axys Pharmaceuticals"