Orion into partnership with Selvita to study opportunities in Alzheimer’s
Orion Corporation and Selvita, a Polish biotechnology company, have agreed to collaborate on further research and development of Selvita’s SEL103 program, for the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The agreement provides for an initial up-front payment to Selvita from Orion, as well as research funding and milestone payments subject to the successfulness of the development of the compound in multiple cognitive disorder indications.
Selvita sp. z o.o., from Krakow, Poland and Orion Corporation have entered into a global collaboration to jointly develop and commercialize SEL103, Selvita’s proprietary compound platform for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders. Selvita will be responsible for early research in the program and Orion will take over the pre-clinical and clinical development as well as further commercialization of the program. Under the terms of the agreement, Selvita will be responsible for the discovery and early preclinical development of small molecules. After the selection of a lead compound, Orion will be responsible for the further steps of the program with global commercialisation rights. The financial and other details of the collaboration agreement remain between the parties.
Selvita’s SEL103 program is based on novel, orally bioavailable and highly selective small molecules which have the potential to play role in the treatment of multiple cognitive disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, dementias, etc. SEL103 is expected to enter formal pre-clinical development within the next two years.
Dr. Jukka Sallinen, Head of CNS Research of Orion says: "Neurodegenerative diseases with cognitive dysfunctions are a major global disease burden. The joint program combines synergistically the capabilities of both companies providing new opportunities with a clear aim to develop improved medicines for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders”.
Dr. Antti Haapalinna, Vice President, Research, R&D of Orion says: "The joint program with Selvita is highly in line with our strategy of entering into early stage collaboration with partners having complementary skills to our own activities. In addition to competence, we have seen high enthusiasm and commitment to the collaboration in Selvita. With these assets, we can look forward to a good and fruitful relationship. The companies are planning to conduct a broad-based global research and development program which will combine the resources of Orion’s experienced CNS research and development team with Selvita’s competencies in discovery chemistry and biology assays. In collaboration, both parties can achieve joint goals faster and with better success than by doing the work alone. "
Pawel Przewiezlikowski, CEO of Selvita says: “We are excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with Orion – one of the leading pharmaceutical companies dedicated to developing and commercializing central nervous system drugs, with significant experience in conducting clinical trials in neuropsychiatric disorders which will benefit the most from our program. From the start of Selvita in 2007, our top priority has been to establish partnerships that will help us translate the vision of our scientists and academic collaborators and allow us to realize our strategy of becoming an integrated drug discovery company. We are also thankful to our academic collaborators, especially the Institute of Pharmacology from Krakow for their contribution to our research. We think that our collaboration with the institute can serve as a good model for the collaboration between the academic institutions and the biotechnology industry in Poland.”
About ALZHEIMER’S
According to Alzheimer’s Disease International, ADI, Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. Dementia is a collective name for progressive degenerative brain syndromes which affect memory, thinking, behaviour and emotion. Although there are no drugs that can cure Alzheimer's disease, there are some treatments that can help people with Alzheimer's disease. However, better drug treatments are needed, especially due to the aging of human population. Currently there are an estimated 30 million people worldwide with dementia. Two thirds of them live in developing countries. This figure is set to increase to more than 100 million people by 2050. Much of this increase will be in rapidly developing and heavily populated regions such as China, India and Latin America.
About SELVITA
Selvita is a Polish, privately-owned, biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of breakthrough medicines to treat CNS, oncology and autoimmune disorders as well as provision of non-clinical research services. It was established in 2007 and currently employs 95 scientists. Selvita has currently several projects at early or late discovery stage and is expected to move its first candidates to the clinic in 2012. The most advanced programs at Selvita are SEL103 for the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and SEL24, a pre-clinical Pim kinase inhibitor, with multiple indications in solid and haematopoietic tumors.