Albany Molecular Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMRI) today
announced a drug discovery collaboration with Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBST)
through which the companies hope to identify novel anti-infective drug candidates.
Under the terms of the agreement, AMRI will use its proprietary combinatorial biocatalysis
technology to create derivatives of lipopeptides, a novel class of anti-infectives. Cubist is
currently developing Cidecin® (daptomycin for injection)--the first investigational antibiotic
derived from this new class. AMRI will provide a series of compound derivatives to Cubist for
biological screening to determine antibacterial potency.
If Cubist determines that initial feasibility experiments show promise, the research program will
be expanded to include scale-up, lead optimization studies and analytical testing by AMRI for
each lead molecule selected by Cubist. Under this agreement, AMRI would receive success
fees from Cubist for the achievement of specific clinical and regulatory milestones, as well as
royalties on net sales of any commercial products that result from the collaboration. In
exchange, Cubist would acquire a worldwide, exclusive, royalty-bearing license to manufacture
and sell any products resulting from the collaboration. Though specific financial details were not
disclosed, the contract also includes fee-for-service provisions.
"We are pleased to work with Cubist on this collaborative research project," said AMRI
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas E. D'Ambra, Ph.D. "We believe lipopeptides
represent a promising new class of anti-infectives and have been impressed with Cubist's ability
to efficiently negotiate the pre-clinical, clinical and regulatory pathway in Cidecin's development.
We are eager to apply our combinatorial biocatalysis technology to this program. With this
technology platform, we have the ability to create new compounds that could previously only be
prepared through a lengthy and laborious chemical synthesis, if at all. We intend to leverage this
technology fully in our collaboration with Cubist."
"We are also pleased to be working with AMRI on this research program," said Scott M.
Rocklage, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cubist. "This collaboration
complements our in-house lipopeptide program nicely. As a result of our development
experience with Cidecin, we have been able to build quite a portfolio of daptomycin derivatives
through traditional chemistry methods and more recently, through our directed biosynthesis
technologies. While we are close to identifying what we would consider to be the first "next
generation" daptomycin pre-clinical candidate from this program, we are excited at this
opportunity to expand upon our lipopeptide franchise through access to AMRI's proprietary
technologies."
Combinatorial biocatalysis is a unique drug discovery technology developed by AMRI that
combines miniaturization, robotics and high-throughput techniques with biocatalysts such as
enzymes and microorganisms. The technology is ideally suited for working with both complex
natural products and synthetic drug leads. AMRI applies biocatalytic and other chemistries in an
iterative fashion to produce libraries of derivatives from starting compounds.