Piqur Logo. (Img: Piqur)
The Basel-based pharmaceutical company PIQUR Therapeutics is entering into a partnership with the French pharmaceutical group Pierre Fabre to collaborate in the field of dermato-oncology.
As part of the collaboration agreement, PIQUR and Pierre Fabre will work towards the development of PIQUR’s lead compound PQR309. According to a statement, the first stage of the collaboration will bring together R&D teams from both companies to work on the compound, after which time Pierre Fabre will have the option to enter into exclusive negotiations to license global rights.
“The collaboration with Pierre Fabre, a worldwide leader in dermatology is an important milestone for PIQUR,” said Hervé Girsault, Chief Business Officer of PIQUR. The partnership validates PIQUR’s potential to bring novel solutions to patients with dermato-oncology diseases, he added.
Laurent Adoly, head of R&D at Pierre Fabre, also described the partnership as a milestone in his company’s partnering strategy. Pierre Fabre is the second largest private French pharmaceutical group with extensive R&D and commercialisation experience.
PIQUR, a spin-off of the University of Basel, developed PQR309, a compound that has the potential to be used for a range of diseases because it crosses the blood-brain barrier, including as a treatment for malignant diseases involving the brain. PQR309 is currently being investigated in five Phase 1 and 2 clinical studies to determine its efficacy against a range of cancers.
