PeptiDream Inc., a public Kanagawa-based biopharmaceutical company, on 5 June 2019, announced a strategic partnership with Seattle-based PharmaIN Corporation for the purpose of investigating the use of PharmaIN's proprietary drug carrier and delivery Protected Graft Co-Polymer (PGC™) technology in combination with PeptiDream's peptide discovery and development programs.

PharmaIN's breakthrough PGC™ technology is a PEG-based excipient that reversibly binds the therapeutic peptide and unlike PEGylation or other peptide PK extending technologies, does not require the peptide to be modified in any way, thereby fully preserving the potency, function, and mobility of the therapeutic peptide payload.  Additionally, the PGC™ technology offers a number of other potentially significant advantages in that it can improve the solubility of the peptide payload, protects the peptide payload from degradation, thereby increasing stability, and acts to slowly releases the peptide payload resulting in a significantly longer circulation half-life.  The PGC™ technology has also shown to passively target the peptide payload to tumour sites/ sites of inflammation/infection and can significantly decrease the risk of injection site reactions common to conventional injectables.

Under the partnership, PeptiDream will have the ability to broadly use PharmaIN's PGC™ technology across its discovery programs to formulate applicable therapeutic peptides with PGC™ and evaluate in vivo the drug carrier/delivery benefits.  Clinical development and commercialization of any peptide employing PharmaIN's PGC™ technology would require a specific development and commercialization license.

Patrick Reid, CEO, PeptiDream, said: "PharmaIN has developed a very unique and attractive drug carrier/delivery technology that doesn't require modification of the therapeutic peptide payload and could add significant formulation, administration, and deliver benefits to both our internal and external therapeutic programs in which the intended administration route is an injectable.  We greatly look forward to working with PharmaIN and being able to evaluate the PGC™ technology in such programs."