LEO Pharma and Model Medicines Announce an Open Innovation Partnership to Treat Inflammatory and Dermatology Indications
LEO PHARMA A/S AND MODEL MEDICINES ANNOUNCE AN OPEN INNOVATION PARTNERSHIP TO DISCOVER AND VALIDATE DRUGS TO TREAT INFLAMMATORY AND DERMATOLOGY INDICATIONS
LEO Pharma A/S, a global leader in medical dermatology, and Model Medicines, an AI Drug Discovery company, today announced the launch of an Open Innovation Partnership to discover and validate drugs to treat inflammatory and dermatology indications.
The research collaboration will leverage Model Medicines ActivPred AI Drug Discovery Platform, an unbiased drug, target and disease agnostic digital chemistry engine, to discover drug candidates for inflammatory skin diseases. Previously, the company has successfully utilized the platform to discover REP-001, REP-002 and REP-003 – three Phase II/III ready small molecule assets for the treatment of Gastric, Neurological and Weight disorders, respectively. LEO Pharma A/S will share inflammatory and dermatology targets they consider to be of interest and will evaluate compounds discovered by Model Medicines in disease assays for potential therapeutic use in inflammatory skin diseases.
LEO Pharma is a 111 year old, foundation-owned global pharmaceutical company with over 6,000 employees and 2019 revenues in excess of EUR 1.4B. LEO Pharma has a well-established product portfolio focusing on dermatology and skin inflammation diseases that provides help to 92 million people globally. LEO Pharma is constantly innovating, exploring new opportunities and ways of working with external research partners. To achieve this, LEO Pharma has established the Open Innovation platform, a collaborative space where unique research tools are made available to external partners to enable the discovery and validation of sector changing therapeutics for patients suffering from inflammatory and dermatology indications.
Model Medicines, a Nex Cubed Digital Health portfolio company, has harnessed the predictive prowess of artificial intelligence and machine learning with the company’s ActivPred AI Drug Discovery Platform to discover drugs that may be repurposed to serve as therapeutics to treat patients suffering from various inflammatory or dermatology indications. The drugs that Model Medicines discovers for these disorders can enter clinical trials in as little as several months. Model Medicines Drug Library is comprised of approximately 4,000 drug compounds that have been approved for commercial use by the US FDA, or similar agencies, and the 20,000+ drug compounds that are known to have successfully navigated a Phase I (human safety) clinical trial. All drugs have a full pre-clinical program, an existing or legacy supply chain, and are known to be safe and well tolerated in humans.
Dr. George Nicola, Ph.D., MBA, Founder and CTO of Model Medicines commented, “We have created an inflammation and dermatology specific version of our ActivPred AI Drug Discovery platform to focus exclusively on targets and diseases of particular interest to LEO Pharma, the 92 million patients the company serves today, and the millions of patients suffering from rare diseases or diseases with high unmet medical need in these areas. Being able to freely access advanced biological assays without prior negotiation and in complete confidence is invaluable to us.”
Niclas Nilsson, Head of LEO Pharma Open Innovation, said, "The unique setup of LEO Pharma Open Innovation creates the ideal circumstance for us to explore completely novel opportunities that we wouldn’t be able to identify otherwise. Collaborating with a range of partners from around the world, from academic researchers to biotechs and big pharma, allows us to connect up the dots in ways that we would not otherwise be able to. Model Medicines ActivPred AI Drug Discovery Platform is a great example of this potential opportunity.”
Dr. Daniel Haders II, Ph.D., Executive Chairman, Model Medicines added, “We could not be more excited about our partnership with the LEO Pharma Open Innovation platform. LEO Pharma, like Model Medicines, puts the patient at the center of everything they do. Our goal is to move therapeutics discovered by Model Medicines and validated in collaboration with LEO Pharma Open Innovation, from the computer to the clinic in a fraction of the time typically required to discover and bring new drugs to market and alleviate the suffering of patients afflicted with inflammatory and dermatology diseases.”
About Model Medicines
Model Medicines is an AI Drug Discovery company that reduces the time to bring a drug to market by 10+ years and the cost to bring a drug to market by $1B+. Model Medicines is transforming drug discovery by leveraging the historical compendium of drug development data, a drug and disease agnostic discovery platform, and unbiased AI to create Phase II/III ready drug candidates in months rather than years. In less than a year, the company has developed a robust pipeline of patent-pending therapeutics for gastric disorders, neurological disorders, and weight disorders, among others. The company is currently working with partners to discover therapeutics to inhibit COVID-19 infection and reduce the lethal side effects related to infection.
About LEO Pharma Open Innovation
LEO Pharma Open Innovation invites anyone in the field of science to have their molecules tested using LEO Pharma research resources. Any researcher or organization can submit molecules for testing in unique, disease-relevant in vitro assays. Structural information about the molecules remain confidential to partners, who own the data generated using their molecules. In four years, more than 1,000 molecules from around the world have been tested. For more information, visit: http://openinnovation.leo-pharma.com/
About LEO Pharma A/S
LEO Pharma A/S helps people achieve healthy skin. The company is a leader in medical dermatology with a robust R&D pipeline, a wide range of therapies and a pioneering spirit. Founded in 1908 and owned by the LEO Foundation, LEO Pharma has devoted decades of research and development to advance the science of dermatology, setting new standards of care for people with skin conditions. LEO Pharma is headquartered in Denmark with a global team of 6,000 people, serving 92 million patients in 130 countries. In 2019, the company generated net sales of DKK 10,805 million. For more information, visit: https://leo-pharma.com/
About Nex Cubed
Model Medicines was launched from the Nex Cubed Digital Health Venture Studio. Nex Cubed is an investor and innovation partner that empowers startups, investors, corporates, and governments to bring new technologies to market, helps rising companies scale, and provides paths to liquidity - the power of three. Over the last three years, Nex Cubed has established itself as a leader in early-stage innovation and acceleration, creating a global ecosystem of 3 industry-specific Centers Of Excellence, 70 investments, 45 partners, 50 strategic advisors, 50 investor advisors, and over 140 mentors. To date, the Nex Cubed portfolio companies have an aggregate value of half a billion dollars, and over 50% of the startups are led by female and minority founders. For more information, visit: https://nex3.com/
