Galapagos and AstraZeneca have entered into a new €620,000 drug-discovery deal as the second part of an agreement between the two firms, first signed in August 2006.
In this second programme, Galapagos' services division, BioFocus DPI, will perform medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry and supporting biology and absorption, distribution, excretion, metabolism, toxicity (ADMET) services for an AstraZeneca drug discovery program.
"BioFocus DPI's commitment to delivering projects of high quality and on time has been the main driver of AstraZeneca's decision to enter into the new agreement," said Dr Lars-Erik Arvidsson, vice president of R&D Lund for AstraZeneca.
"We have been pleased with the level of progress thus far and expect that BioFocus DPI's expanded ADMET and predictive drug discovery capabilities will be key contributors in advancing this hit-to-lead programme."
Another pharma giant, Pfizer has just chosen to extend the terms of an existing "worldwide collaboration" with Renovis, that will provide Renovis with additional funding until 30 June 2008 to research, develop and commercialise small molecules that target the vanilloid receptor, VR1.
The VR1 receptor is a member of a related group of ion channel proteins known as the transient receptor potential (TRP) family that mediate and influence cell signalling. Inhibitors of VR1 are predicted to be useful in the treatment of pain, urinary incontinence and other diseases and disorders.
"VR1 antagonists represent an enormous opportunity to help large numbers of patients who are poorly served by existing therapies," said Michael Kelly, senior vice president of Research and Development at Renovis.
Following the extension announcement, the company has updated its financial guidance for the year ending 31 December 2007, to incorporate the value of the deal.
The company said it now expects total contract revenue from existing agreements of $5.3m (€3.9m) to $9.8m; and total operating expenses of $28.0m to $32.0m.
Meanwhile, discovery and laboratory testing services biotech firm Transgenomic, said it has recently signed a contract with OSI Pharmaceuticals to complete an analysis of specific cancer pathway genes.
The company will use its proprietary methodology for high throughput genome scanning with endonucleases, forward and reverse Sanger sequencing, and unparalleled variant annotation, in order to characterise genetic variants implicated in malignant neoplasia.
Commenting on the deal, the firm said its "unique proprietary expertise enables highly sensitive detection of cancer causing genetic mutations", making it "one of the leading laboratories in the country for this service."