Quintiles is putting money into a Swiss pharmaceutical company that has drug candidates for Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes approaching clinical trials this year.
Durham, North Carolina-based Quintiles has struck up a strategic alliance with Swiss drug development company Kareus Therapeutics, which is readying for clinical trials on the two compounds. Financial terms were not disclosed. Kareus only said that Durham, North Carolina-based Quintiles’ “seven-figure investment” into the company represents a combination of equity and access to clinical services. Under the arrangement, both companies will share the financial risks of developing the compounds.
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Kareus said it plans to submit an investigational new drug application for KU-046, a new chemical entity discovered by Kareus for treating Alzheimer’s disease. Kareus has another drug program for type 2 diabetes. Kareus said a clinical candidate from that program will be selected for clinical trials later this year. Quintiles will conduct phase 1 clinical trials on the chosen diabetes candidate as well.
The Quintiles-Kareus partnership is yet another example of how clinical research organizations are stretching beyond the model of providing outsourced clinical services on a contract basis. Strategic alliances give CROs a greater share of the drug development risks, but also the opportunity to win a greater share of rewards if the partnership yields a successfully commercialized drug.
“With Quintiles as our partner, Kareus is now ideally placed to accelerate the development of our novel drug pipeline and advance the first product candidates generated by our innovative discovery platform, KARLECT, into clinical studies,” Kareus President Patrick Doyle said in a prepared statement.
Kareus’s drug pipeline is focused on central nervous system disorders. The company has additional drug candidates for metabolic diseases, including diabetes and inflammation. The company is also researching cardiovascular treatments.
