Peptidream Inc., a public Kanagawa-based biopharmaceutical company has announced that it has entered into a broad-based multi-target discovery and development agreement with Osaka-based Santen Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.

Under the agreement, PeptiDream will use its proprietary Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS) technology to identify macrocyclic/constrained peptides against multiple ophthalmic disease targets of interest selected by Santen, and to optimize hit peptides into therapeutic peptides products for such indications. PeptiDream will be responsible for drug discovery and part of preclinical development aspects, while Santen will be responsible for preclinical and clinical development of identified candidates. Santen is a specialized pharmaceutical company with a singular focus on ophthalmology, a disease area to which PeptiDream’s constrained peptides have the potential to become ideal therapeutics.

Under the terms of the agreement, PeptiDream would receive an undisclosed upfront payment and research funding and is eligible to receive preclinical, clinical, and commercialization milestone payments from Santen. In addition, PeptiDream is eligible to receive royalties on sales of any products that arise from the collaboration.

“We are extremely excited to be joining forces with Santen, a leader in the area of ophthalmic disease treatments. Within the very broad therapeutic potential of our constrained peptides, we believe our constrained peptides are ideally suited for the treatment of eye disease, and this deal represents one of our broadest discovery and development agreements to date, with PeptiDream responsible for all early drug discovery and preclinical development, before passing candidates to Santen for preclinical development and clinical trials,” said Keiichi Masuya, EVP of PeptiDream

In the past eight years, PeptiDream has established funded discovery collaborations with 18 of the leading pharmaceutical companies; Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Daiichi Sankyo, Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA, Sanofi, Teijin, Kyorin, Ipsen, Genentech, Shionogi, Asahi Kasei, Janssen, and Bayer all of which are active and ongoing. In addition, PeptiDream has transferred its PDPS discovery platform for broad use to Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Novartis, Lilly, Genentech, Shionogi, and Merck.