Locus, Ono Pharma Enter Drug Discovery Pact

Locus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has entered into a research agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. to apply its proprietary computational technologies, and capabilities in chemistry, biology and crystallography to develop IND-directed preclinical drug candidates for Ono. The molecular target is a protein kinase selected by Ono. Protein kinases function as control switches for many biochemical pathways inside cells and are of particular interest as targets for the development of novel therapeutics. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“We look forward to this multi-year collaboration with Ono, which allows us to apply and leverage all of our internal drug development capabilities as well as our kinase knowledge-base,” said H. Joseph Reiser, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Locus. “We have already demonstrated the power of our computational approaches and proprietary algorithms in our internal kinase programs and in other kinase-related collaborations, so we expect to bring significant value to Ono’s efforts against this target.”

“We have dedicated ourselves to creating innovative medicines that will be truly beneficial to patients,” said Daikichi Fukushima, Ph.D., executive director of research headquarters at Ono. “This collaboration with Locus, a world leader in computational drug discovery technologies, is a great chance for Ono to strengthen its drug discovery capabilities.”