Heptares and Novartis sign $200m drug discovery agreement
StaR technology enables GPCRs, normally membrane-bound, to be worked on in solution, allowing the use of structure-based drug discovery technologies and the discovery of novel drugs addressing this important set of targets. Heptares is deploying this technology principally to generate small molecule drugs against currently difficult or intractable GPCR targets in several disease areas.
Under the terms of the agreement with the Novartis Option Fund, Heptares will apply its StaR technology to a target identified by Novartis and drive a drug discovery programme against that target.
The Novartis Option Fund invested £7 million in Heptares’ £21 million fundraising announced in February 2009 in a syndicate with MVM Life Science Partners and Clarus Ventures.
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