Sanofi signs ophthalmology research collaboration
pharmafile | March 25, 2011 | News story | Research and Development | Fovea, Sanofi-Aventis, Vision Institute, ophthalmology
Sanofi-Aventis has penned a collaboration with one of the main eye disease research centres in Europe.
The three-year agreement between Sanofi’s ophthalmology division Fovea Pharmaceuticals and Paris-based Vision Institute covers research into the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of ocular diseases.
The Institute is one of the main eye disease research centres in Europe and will give Sanofi priority access to its technological platforms.
In return the pharma company will support research and collaboration projects, in particular in optical nerve regeneration, vascular biology, inflammation and gene therapy in various eye tissues.
Sanofi will then be granted exclusive and worldwide rights to the results of the collaboration and will pay royalties to the members of the Vision Institute on any drug that comes to market.
Before being bought by Sanofi in October 2009, Fovea built a close relationship with the Vision Institute and is situated in the same building.
“We are very pleased with the signing of this major contract which strengthens the collaboration of our Ophthalmology Division with the research teams of the Vision Institute,” said Chris Viehbacher, Sanofi’s chief executive. “This collaboration will encourage the sharing of technical expertise and know-how with the objective to deliver innovative therapies for people with visual impairment and supports our ambition to build a global offer in ophthalmology for patients.”
Sanofi does not currently commercialise any major eye disease drugs but Fovea has several products in phase I and II development that it will hope to bring to market in the coming years.
These include FOV2304, a potential treatment for persistent allergic form of conjunctivitis, and two others that focus on acute macular edema following retinal vein occlusion and chronic macular edema due to diabetic retinopathy.
In February a report by French business paper Les Echos said Sanofi was contemplating four ophthalmology acquisitions worth around 1 billion euro ($1.36 billion), however the French firm has so far refused to confirm the rumour.
Sanofi has said it hopes its latest collaboration and the acquisition of Fovea would help it become “a leader in ophthalmology”.
This would put Sanofi in direct competition with Novartis – its recent $13 billion purchase of Alcon made the Swiss company the biggest ophthalmology specialist in the world.
Novartis’ footprint is made ever the larger by the success of its wet AMD drug Lucentis (ranibizumab), which made $1.53 billion in sales last year and has also just gained a new licence in the EU for diabetic macular edema.
Ben Adams
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