Prana teams with NSV, Schering

Melbourne company Prana Biotechnology has announced an agreement with Neurosciences Victoria and German pharma Schering worth up to $AUD7.5 million over the next three to five years.

The deal provides funding for a series of discovery projects looking at new targets and diagnostics for neurological diseases. According to Prana chairman Geoffrey Kempler, details of the projects are being kept confidential for the time being.

Dr Ross Murdoch, Prana's chief operating officer, said that Prana researchers had identified "multiple potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets which we believe worthy of exploration."

He said the company was committed to strengthening the company's technology base through both in-house and collaborative research, and noted that the new projects would complement the existing platform technology based on the metal protein-attenuating compound (MPAC) class of compounds.

Kempler said the collaboration was the first time that Prana had partnered with Neurosciences Victoria, although the company's platform technology had been developed by Prof Colin Masters and Prof Ashley Bush, who both have links to Neurosciences Victoria through the University of Melbourne and the Mental Health Research Institute.

"Today's announcement with Schering is just the beginning of what we believe will be a series of announcements on collaborative and commercial deals to move our innovative and proprietary technologies closer to reality. Schering and our scientific management have a history of strong collaborative success, and we believe they are a logical partner to extend our reach into novel drug targets and innovative diagnostic technologies," Kempler said.

He said the Schering deal demonstrated confidence in Prana's science. "Prana has really made a place for itself in the study of neurodegenerative disorders."

NSV's CEO, Prof William Hart, said the $AUD7.5 million in funding from Schering was part of the $25 million provided by the pharmaceutical company last year to be invested by NSV into drug discovery and development projects.

The organisation has commissioned a total of nine project areas for funding, including those at Prana, who is the only commercial entity to be granted funding through the Schering-NSV collaboration.

"We had identified Prana and the work they were doing as being a very valuable area [of neuroscience research]," said Hart.

The complex agreement between Prana, NSV and Schering will give Schering first right of refusal to commercialise potentially valuable new IP generated within the newly funded projects, he said.

Prana has recently expanded its collaboration with the University of Melbourne, under the leadership of Prof Masters. The agreement has extended the collaboration until at least 2006.

In addition, the company is progressing with discussions on the commercialisation of the MPAC technology, said Kempler. "We anticipate that the next collaboration to be announced by the company will be around developments arising from our most recent human clinical trials," he said, noting that the company was in discussion with potential partners.

"The science is going well, the company is going well and the discussions are going well, but these things take time," Kempler said.