Melodia Therapeutics and Alivexis Sign Exclusive License Agreement for Cathepsin C Inhibitor Program MOD-A
June 21 2024 - 3:15AM
Business Wire
Alivexis, Inc. (headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, “Alivexis”) and
Melodia Therapeutics AG (headquartered in Basel, Switzerland,
“Melodia”), a company established by Forty51 Ventures, announced
today that they have entered into an exclusive license agreement
for the worldwide development, manufacturing, and commercialization
of Alivexis' MDI-0151, a novel Cathepsin C inhibitor with
best-in-class potential. MDI-0151 is an innovative clinical
candidate identified in Alivexis’ MOD-A discovery program.
Melodia will rapidly initiate IND-enabling activities for
MDI-0151 to prepare for a Phase 1/Phase 2a study in various
refractory inflammatory diseases caused by excessive activation of
neutrophils, such as ANCA-associated Vasculitis and several other
relevant diseases in the context of neutrophils. Patients suffering
from these diseases have a high unmet medical need.
Alivexis and Melodia will leverage their respective expertise in
drug discovery research and development with the aim of obtaining
clinical Proof of Concept in these indications.
Under the terms of the agreement, Alivexis grants Melodia
worldwide rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize
MDI-0151 and will receive from Melodia an upfront payment and
development and sales milestone payments totaling up to
approximately $275 million (JPY 42.7 billion1), and will be
entitled to receive royalties on net sales of any marketed product.
In addition, Alivexis is eligible to receive a number of warrants
to subscribe for Melodia's common shares.
S. Roy Kimura, Ph.D., CEO of Alivexis, commented on the deal: “I
am pleased to announce the signing of our licensing and clinical
partnership with Melodia for our MOD-A Cathepsin C inhibitor
program. This event marks a significant milestone for Alivexis and
serves as validation of our drug discovery R&D team and
platform, our proprietary pipeline of discovery programs, and our
business model involving the use of our cutting-edge platform to
accelerate clinical candidate discovery for diseases with high
unmet need. This is the first of many licensing and collaboration
agreements that we anticipate from our maturing portfolio of
IND-ready candidate molecules in our pipeline and our unique and
proven discovery platform. We are confident that the Melodia team
will be able to take our candidate molecule through clinical trials
and ultimately help many patients in need suffering from chronic
inflammatory diseases.”
Melodia’s founding shareholder Forty51 Ventures commented on the
deal: “We are extremely pleased to in-license and continue the
development of MDI-0151. We consider that this asset from Alivexis
has best-in-class, blockbuster potential. Melodia aims to develop
the program in a variety of underserved indications in the field of
immunology. Further announcements will follow shortly as Melodia
advances this program expeditiously.”
About MDI-0151
MDI-0151 is a clinical candidate compound from the Alivexis’
discovery program MOD-A, focused on Cathepsin C inhibition.
Cathepsin C, also known as dipeptidyl peptidase-1 (DPP-1), is an
enzyme responsible for the activation of a group of proteases that
play an important role in the destruction of tissues by
neutrophils. As inhibition of Cathepsin C is believed to have
little effect on the immune function of neutrophils, MDI-0151 may
effectively treat various immune and inflammatory diseases while
not compromising the immune system.
About Alivexis, Inc.
Headquarter: Daiichi Hibiya Building 7F, Shimbashi 1-18-21,
Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0004, Japan Representative directors: S. Roy
Kimura, Ph.D., CEO / Kazuki Ohno, Dr. Eng. COO Established: August
8, 2016 URL: https://alivexis.com Business Description: A
network-based drug discovery company utilizing cutting-edge
technologies.
About Melodia Therapeutics AG
Headquarter: Basel, Switzerland Founding shareholder: Forty51
Advisors AG Established: December 2023 URL:
https://www.melodiatx.com Business Description: A biotech company
focused on developing therapies for neutrophil-driven diseases.
1 *USD/JPY conversion rate: 155
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Alivexis, Inc. info@alivexis.com