Dec 03, 2010, Seoul, S. Korea – Institut Pasteur Korea (IP-K) has signed an agreement with sanofi-aventis Research & Development of Toulouse, France to continue research on the identification of new medicines.
The new contract, extending an agreement drawn up in the fall of 2009, illustrates the value of IP-K's PhenomicScreen™ to the pharmaceutical industry. The technology platform will be used to pinpoint active, non-toxic agents in sanofi-aventis' proprietary chemical compound library.
The high-throughput, high-content visual screening approach of PhenomicScreen™ is well suited to identifying lead compounds. Dr. Priscille Brodin of IP-K explains that "Our phenotypic approach does not rely on a predefined target, but rather simultaneously selects both chemical compounds and an unknown cellular target solely by the clearly discernible effect on the disease model". The advantage, according to IP-K's Dr. Jonathan Cechetto, is that "The process has the ability to select novel targets, and only those which are functionally significant in the disease process".
Commenting on the new agreement with sanofi-aventis, Laurent Fraisse, director of infectious diseases research said "Over the past year the collaboration has made important strides in identifying potential new drugs, and we are pleased to extend our agreement with IP-K."
Center Director of Core Technologies of Institut Pasteur Korea Dr. Veronica Soloveva believes that the agreement is a vindication of the institute's innovative approach to drug discovery. "Phenomic technology increases the accuracy and speed of drug discovery", she said, "And we are delighted to be working with sanofi-aventis to accelerate their identification of new compounds".
About PhenomicScreen™
Institut Pasteur Korea has established core competence in PhenomicScreen™, a proprietary and advantageous phenotype based screening technology. This exclusive target free approach combines novel imaging technologies with tailor made high content and high throughput visual screens that reflect specific disease physiologies and enable the assessment of biological events live and in real time. In essence, our core platform technology allows for the cell itself to identify the most effective drug target out of the many complex molecular interactions underlying the development of a given disease. Confirmation of successful hits is followed by lead optimization and preclinical studies; the whole process being completed in as little as 18 months. In summary, this innovative core competence allows new therapeutic drugs to be identified faster and more reliably.
About sanofi-aventis
Sanofi-aventis, a leading global pharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and distributes therapeutic solutions to improve the lives of everyone. Sanofi-aventis is listed in Paris (EURONEXT PARIS: SAN) and in New York (NYSE: SNY).
About Institut Pasteur Korea
Institut Pasteur Korea is a non-profit organization based in South Korea. It was founded in April, 2004 with the strategic focus of enabling technologies and therapeutic development in disease models pertaining to public health. For additional information please visit http://www.ip-korea.org.