AmorChem, a Canada-based venture capital fund, is partnering up with Roche, the Switzerland-based biotech, to develop a new therapy for the treatment of Steinert’s disease, or myotonic muscular distrophy 1.
Roche will be providing both scientific support as well as provide part of the research and development funding. The two new partners’s aim will be to develop a therapy which would be capable to correcting the effects of the gene mutation that causes the disease. Currently, there is no cure for the rare disease, which is chronic and slowly progressing. Its characteristics include muscles wasting away, cataracts and myotonia – involuntary muscle contractions.
As part of the deal, Roche has the option to acquire an exclusive, worldwide license while AmorChem stands to earn up to $107m, subject to milestones, as well as single-digit tiered royalties.
The underlying technology for the new therapy is based on research undertaken by Pascal Chartrand at Montreal University. The technology was licensed to AmorChem by Univalor, the university’s technology transfer organisation. The research for the Steinert’s disease therapy will be conducted at both AmorChem’s medicinal chemistry incubator, NuChem Therapeutics, and at Pascal Chartrand’s lab.
Elizabeth Douville, general partner at AmorChem, said: “AmorChem was founded on the premise that there is considerable opportunity in the high quality innovation prevalent in Quebec-based universities, and that the pharmaceutical industry would find significant worth in our early-stage projects. This new partnership with Roche indeed delivers on that proposition and emphasises the value being created by our alliances with Univalor and Montreal University.”