Institut Pasteur Korea and Sanofi to combine their strengths in the discovery of novel drugs for Hepatitis B

Sanofi will share its compound library with IP-K’s screening technology to increase the potential of discovering novel therapeutics to meet patient needs.

Seoul, South Korea - February 06, 2013 - Sanofi and Institute Pasteur Korea (IP-K), a non-profit research institute, have signed an agreement to collaborate in the identification of pharmaceutically active compounds for a curative approach in the field of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection. Under the terms of the agreement, Sanofi provides IP-K a representative set of its world class compound collection proven to generate high quality starting points to research programs and IP-K tests the compounds using its advanced cell-based high-throughput screening technology.

IP-K and Sanofi will collaborate in development of first-in-class drug candidates that promise to restore the patient``s innate immunity impaired by the Hepatitis B virus. The project is co-sponsored by Sanofi’s Therapeutic Strategic Unit Asia-Pacific and IP-K. Prof. Wang-Shik Ryu, Yonsei Univ., has also contributed in this synergetic partnership with his fundamental discovery in HBV infection and Dr. Marc Windisch at IP-K will be in charge of application of the new finding to drug discovery technology.

By giving other organizations, such as IP-K, access to a proprietary drug-like screening set, Sanofi once again demonstrates its strategy of accessing external innovation and exploring opportunities to create value for patients by exposing its compounds to original targets and models, using collaborations to co-develop novel therapies.

Despite the availability of medicines and vaccine, Hepatitis B is still a significant problem with about 5% of the global population chronically suffering with HBV infections. Without any therapeutic options to prevent or cure HBV infections, these patients are at a very high risk of developing liver diseases such as liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.

IP-K underlines the importance of this collaboration in the Asian region. Ulf Nehrbass, CEO of IP-K, said, “We provide what is our strength, designing and performing imaging based discovery approaches for the identification of first-in-class drug candidates, and this is being complemented with a compound library and clinical development expertise of Sanofi. By working together we increase our chance of meeting patient needs.”

Dr. Sung Joo Lee, Korea R&D Leader, TSU (Therapeutic Strategic Unit) Asia Pacific R&D of Sanofi, said, “As Chronic Hepatitis B is one of the major Asian diseases with high prevalence, the medical needs in development of its treatment is very high; therefore, this research collaboration has significant meaning to Sanofi Asia-Pacific R&D.” He also added that “Through the new form of research collaboration of ‘sharing compound library’, we expect to draw successful result in Korea that can contribute to the prevention of Asian diseases with high prevalence.”

IP-K integrates key advances in cell biology, robotics and bio-imaging to create a new model of drug discovery. IP-K is also one of only a few institutions worldwide with the ability to perform efficient, innovative and accelerated drug discovery from basic research to the preclinical stage in house.

Introducing a new approach to address the obstacles of HBV drug discovery, Sanofi and IP-K are thus benefiting from each other’s strengths to develop first-in-class drug candidates. By combining the synergistic and complementary assets of IP-K and Sanofi, the chances for both partners to identify and move forward with first-in-class drug candidates are significantly increased. In case of successful hit identification, both companies expressed their interest to further progress chemical matter to Lead or Candidate in a risk-shared, collaborative model.