Institut Pasteur Korea(IP-K), Qurient and Roche
Entered into a Master Collaboration Agreement

Phama, institute and bioventure firm collaborate in first-in-class drug discovery

Apr. 02, 2013, Seoul, S. Korea……. Institut Pasteur Korea (IP-K), Qurient Co. Ltd., and Roche (Roche R&D Center China LTD) have signed a Master Collaboration Agreement for research, drug discovery and development programs in the fields of infectious diseases.

Throughout the agreement period Roche, IP-K and/or Qurient will work on various collaborative research programs, such as assay development, compound screening, target identification and other drug discovery and development activities in the field of infectious diseases. The Master Collaboration Agreement includes funding from Roche to be used in accordance with the subsequent agreements where the details of collaborative programs will be defined by the relevant parties.

IP-K is a leading translational research institute, funded by the Korean central and local governments, which is redefining and accelerating drug discovery for infectious, chronic and neglected diseases using its proprietary drug discovery platform. The state-of-the-art technology of IP-K is built on the unique integration of cell biology, robotics, bio-imaging, and high throughput/content screening. The core benefit of IP-K’s technology enables it to study disease models in live cells in real time leading to the identification of physiologically relevant novel drug candidates faster and more effectively.

This Master Collaboration Agreement brings together the expertise and cell based visual technology of IP-K in the infectious disease area with the scientific and drug development experience of Roche. By leveraging the competitive advantages of each party in the various collaborative programs, Roche and IP-K are taking a step forward to the development of successful first-in-class drugs in the field of infectious diseases.

Qurient is a spin-off biotechnology company of IP-K. It is dedicated to develop novel therapeutics against unmet medical needs such as infectious diseases and respiratory diseases. Qurient has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize drug discovery research products from IP-K in selected fields. Qurient and Roche will explore a plan to develop a Qurient drug candidate, which was initially discovered at and licensed in from IP-K.

Michele Liuzzi, CEO of IP-K, said, “We are very enthusiastic to combine our imaging based drug discovery technology with the competence and reach of a global leader like Roche. Patients have been waiting for new approaches and therapies in the area of infectious diseases and I am confident that together we can produce innovative solutions rapidly. The collaboration with Roche signifies a major step for IP-K towards becoming the world leading provider of imaging based discovery approaches.”