Roche and Siena Biotech enter Research Collaboration Agreement in Neurodegenerative diseases

22-May-2007

Siena Biotech S.p.A., announced that they have entered into a Research and Collaboration Agreement with Roche to perform joint research activities targeted towards treatment of selected neurodegenerative diseases.

"This Collaboration Agreement with Roche is an excellent example of our commitment to the fight against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and rare forms of disease for which there is a large unmet medical need," said Dr. Giovanni Gaviraghi, Chief Executive Officer of Siena Biotech S.p.A. "The research strategy we share with Roche will encourage synergisms that will help speed up the development of drug candidates emerging from our combined research. This important and innovative agreement validates the strength of our research activities and is consistent with our strategy of collaborations for the development of effective therapies against diseases of the CNS.

Under the terms of the Research Collaboration Agreement, Roche and Siena Biotech will perform joint research activities on an undisclosed target, with the primary objective to identify active compounds against Alzheimer's disease and other rare forms of neurodegeneration. The provisions of the Agreement include Roche's contribution to the research costs that will be shared with Siena Biotech. The two companies will share research activities in the following areas: screening and generation of hit compounds; modelling and drug design; lead series generation and compound optimization; and identification of candidate molecules to be considered for further clinical development.

Roche will have the first option to select candidate molecules for their further pre-clinical and clinical development in the field and will have worldwide marketing rights for products emerging from the collaboration. Siena Biotech will have the option to develop compounds emerging from the collaboration as well as for orphan disease indications.

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