Genentech enters agreement to develop autoimmune therapies
US-based biopharmaceutical company Parvus Therapeutics has entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement with Genentech, a subsidiary of Roche.
In an announcement released on Thursday, May 16, Parvus said it will work with Genentech to develop, manufacture and commercialise Navacim, a therapeutic for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune liver disease and celiac disease.
Parvus will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, and will be eligible for research, development and commercialisation milestone payments for each disease area.
Under the terms of the agreement, Parvus will conduct Phase I pre-clinical development and clinical development activities, while Genentech will carry out Phase II clinical development.
Genentech will also be responsible for global regulatory submissions and the commercialisation of products.
Curtis Ruegg, president and CEO of Parvus, said the collaboration was its second partnership with a major biopharmaceutical company. In 2017, Parvus entered into an agreement with Novartis to develop Navacim for the treatment of type 1 diabetes.
He added that the most recent collaboration “reinforces the potential of our Navacim immunoregulatory therapeutic platform”.
James Sabry, the global head of pharma partnering at Roche, said Parvus’ technology represents a “potentially transformative approach for treating autoimmune disease”.
“In preclinical testing, Parvus’ platform has shown the ability to induce and expand disease-specific regulatory T cells, which restore immune system balance and halt the autoimmune disease process. We look forward to working with the Parvus team to hopefully bring this exciting advancement to patients,” Sabry said.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.