Humanetics gets drug discovery partner to identify new actives
entered into a multi-year alliance with drug discovery firm Medisyn
Technologies to create a range of natural compounds for disease
prevention.
The agreement is Medisyn's first with a company working on nutraceuticals, a sector that tends to invest less in R&D than the pharma industry.
However Medisyn president David Land says the firm's technology is more cost-effective than the typical drug discovery processes.
"We mathematically characterise compounds and then look for patterns between them rather than basing our work on physical or biological properties," he told NutraIngredients-USA.com.
"This means we can leverage the knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry by characterising compounds in drugs on the market, or those that have failed because of side effects, and then applying that data to natural compounds."
The firm will first focus on finding compounds that can help tackle obesity, and boost the immune system and cognitive function.
Twin Cities-based Humanetics will then invest in the clinical trials program to gain FDA approval for qualified disease prevention claims on the products.
"Our success depends, in part, on our ability to validate the health benefits of our products through clinical trials," explained John Dykstra, chief operating officer at privately-held Humanetics.
"Medisyn will provide an ongoing selection of compounds that we know meet certain specifications and have a higher probability of being effective. This partnership is unique in our market space and should provide us with a significant competitive advantage for accelerating our discovery process," he added.
For Medisyn, the alliance opens a new market niche with the advantage of a faster time-to-market than traditional new drug development and therefore nearer-term revenue potential.
Medisyn currently is working with both pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Invitrogen, to sharpen and streamline their discovery initiatives, primarily in cancer treatment.
