Antibiotic collaboration with Galapagos

25 September 2009

Drug discovery company Galapagos (Euronext:GLPG) has entered into a collaborative research program and option agreement with the University of Oxford and Isis Innovation for the identification and development of novel anti-infective drugs.

Isis Innovation is the University of Oxford's technology transfer company and manages the University's intellectual property portfolio.

New antibiotics with novel modes of action are urgently needed because of the emergence of virulent bacterial strains which are resistant to current clinical drugs (e.g. Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, MRSA).

A research team led by Dr Mark Moloney of the Department of Chemistry has developed a method for the preparation of small molecule drugs which share key structural features with anti-infective compounds found in nature. Armed with this unique synthetic strategy, the Oxford-Galapagos collaboration will seek to identify novel small molecule antibiotic drugs.

Dr Moloney is also one of the founders of AIM listed materials company Oxford Advanced Surfaces, which was spun out by Isis Innovation in 2006.

For further information, please contact:

Renate Krelle
Isis Innovation Ltd
T: +44 (0) 1865 280850
E: renate.krelle@isis.ox.ac.uk

About Isis Innovation

Isis Innovation is the University of Oxford's technology transfer company and manages the University's intellectual property portfolio, working with University researchers on identifying, protecting and marketing technologies through licensing, spin-out company formation and material sales. Isis files on average one new patent application each week, has concluded over 400 technology licensing agreements, and established 64 new spin-out companies from Oxford. Isis also manages Oxford University Consulting, which arranges consulting services providing clients access to the world-class expertise of the University's academics to enhance innovative capability. Last year OUC arranged over 150 consulting deals. Isis has established a separate business division, Isis Enterprise, offering consulting expertise and advice in technology transfer and open innovation to university, government and industrial clients around the world. Isis was founded in 1987 and is today one of the world's leading technology transfer and innovation management companies.
www.isis-innovation.com