Genentech in drug discovery agreement

The University of California, San Francisco (CA, USA; UCSF) has signed an agreement with Genentech with the aim of discovering and developing drug candidates for neurodegenerative diseases.

Genentech will provide funding and its research acumen in neuroscience, and will collaborate with the university to identify small molecules. The drug discovery candidates will be based on prior academic research conducted at the university’s Small Molecule Discovery Center (SMDC) and discoveries at Genentech.

“What is transformative about this agreement from the university’s perspective is that it is a true collaboration between the UCSF and Genentech scientists, with the intent to generate drug candidates. This is different from a standard out-license or simple research collaboration,” Jim Wells, Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry in the UCSF School of Pharmacy, and a faculty affiliate of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, explained in a press statement.

This is the first major collaboration the SMDC has formed with an industry partner. In addition to the financial support received from Genentech, there is also the potential for further funding in excess of $13 million if certain development and commercial milestones are met, plus royalties.

www.ucsf.edu