Based in Vienna, Austria, Haplogen is a biotechnology company focused on developing therapeutic substances for the treatment and prevention of infection by the common cold virus.
The multi-year drug discovery and development collaboration will consolidate on discoveries and expertise developed by the company in the field of rhinovirus therapeutics.
The Austrian company has been collaborating with Evotec since 2012 to build a portfolio of pulmonary therapeutic programs based on their respective drug discovery platforms and expertise.
The target-based approach will now be expanded under the terms of the new collaboration of Haplogen with Bayer.
The Austrian firm said that the collaboration with Bayer brings the competences and the funds of a global pharmaceutical firm to its respiratory program while opening opportunities to develop drugs for patients based on the assets created by it.
Haplogen CEO Georg Casari said: “We feel proud and delighted that Bayer has chosen Haplogen as a partner and we regard this as a recognition of the solid research and development work done at Haplogen in collaboration with our partner Evotec.”
As per the terms of the agreement, Bayer and Haplogen will jointly assess new drug candidates with the German firm to be responsible for any subsequent pre-clinical and clinical development and commercialization.
Bayer will get an exclusive worldwide license to the rights in all generated results of the candidates, including the results developed within the collaboration between Haplogen and Evotec.
The Austrian company will be entitled for an undisclosed upfront payment, research funding. It will also be eligible to get pre-clinical, clinical and sales milestones and also tiered royalties.
Bayer research and development head and pharmaceuticals division executive committee member Joerg Moeller said: “Bayer is committed to further expanding its research efforts in the area of specialty lung diseases.
“Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a severe medical condition and the third leading cause of mortality worldwide. New treatments are urgently needed and we are pleased to collaborate with Haplogen to develop meaningful innovations for patients suffering from COPD.”