PHILOGEN ANNOUNCES NEW COLLABORATION WITH JANSSEN TO DISCOVER SMALL MOLECULE THERAPEUTICS
Siena, Italy, November 24, 2021 – Philogen S.p.A., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on antibody and small molecule-based targeted therapeutics, today announces that its wholly-owned Swiss subsidiary, Philochem AG, has entered into a new collaboration and option agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, to discover new small molecules of pharmaceutical interest utilizing Philochem’s novel lead-generation technologies. The agreement was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation.
Under the terms of the agreement, Philochem will work with Janssen to apply its proprietary DNA-encoded chemical library technology platform, seeking to identify small molecule compounds that bind to specific targets. Janssen may exercise the options to use these identified ligands as candidates for further drug discovery and development activities.
Prof. Dario Neri, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Philogen commented: “We are pleased to establish another collaboration with Janssen and we hope our technology will contribute to providing innovative treatments for serious unmet medical needs.”
Philogen’s main focus is on the discovery and development of targeted anti-cancer therapeutics, which selectively accumulate at the site of disease helping spare normal tissue. Besides the successful development of antibody-cytokine fusions, Philogen has used its encoded library platform to identify small organic ligands with ultra-high affinity for tumor-associated antigens. These ligands are used for the selective delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic payloads including radionuclides or cytotoxic drugs to the site of disease. This approach is complementary to the use of antibody-cytokine fusions and the small molecule product candidates developed by Philogen have already obtained clinical proof-of-principle validation.
No financial details of the agreement were disclosed.
About Philogen
Philogen is a Swiss-Italian clinical-stage biotechnology company listed on the Italian Stock Exchange. It is engaged in the discovery and development of novel pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products. Philogen’s strategy is to deliver bioactive agents, for example cytokines or drugs, to the site of disease using antibodies and other ligands that specifically and efficiently target stromal antigens. This technology has generated a strong proprietary pipeline of clinical-stage products and preclinical compounds in an array of disease indications. Philogen is headquartered in Siena, Italy, and has research activities at its subsidiary company Philochem near Zurich, Switzerland. Philogen has signed agreements with several major pharmaceutical companies. For more information, please visit www.philogen.com and www.philochem.com .
Philogen contacts
Dr. Christian Lizak (Business Development), christian.lizak@philogen.com
Dr. Emanuele Puca (Investor Relations), emanuele.puca@philogen.com
+41 (0) 43 544 88 00
Consilium Strategic Communications contacts
Mary-Jane Elliott, Davide Salvi