Bristol-Myers Squibb has licensed Pharmagene’s TargetEvaluator technology.
Pharmagene, founded in 1996, is a UK-based company focusing on the use of human tissues to identify new approaches to the treatment of disease. The company currently has three main business offerings, PhaseZero, TargetEvaluator and Pharmagene Therapeutics. While Pharmagene has already formed relationships with major industry players including Bayer, Taisho and GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) is Pharmagene’s first major subscriber to the TargetEvaluator technology.
TargetEvaluator is a database of human gene expression information on gene families of pharmaceutical relevance combined with software analysis tools. The database contains information on the distribution, level and variability in expression of gene targets within the human population. Hence, TargetEvaluator is valuable in the early stages of drug development as it can be used to validate targets in various ways.
The agreement is just the latest in a line of recent genomic collaborations for BMS. In early August the company entered into an agreement with Lexicon Genetics, selecting promising drug targets identified by Lexicon’s LexVision (which discovers the functions and medical importance of genes that seem to be potential drug targets) for use in its drug discovery programs. In July, BMS entered into an agreement with Exelixis to create a new generation of cancer drugs that selectively destroy cancers that harbor defects in tumor suppressor gene pathways.
The genomic tools market consists of a variety of companies providing solutions to the needs of the life sciences community, supplying both academia and industry. However, acquiring such companies is a high cost, high-risk strategy with no guaranteed return. Instead, large pharmaceutical companies are developing networks of synergistic alliances with selected genomics companies.
For Pharmagene and BMS, the relationship is typically symbiotic in that BMS gains access to a genomic technology which will further enhance its drug discovery capabilities, while BMS’ subscription will boost TargetEvaluator in the eyes of other pharma companies.
