New in-licensing opportunities in inflammation

Challenge

A small molecule pharmaceutical incubator is using a novel and proprietary drug discovery and translational platform to develop first-in-class, small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. The incubator’s novel approach to drug discovery is based on the identification of genomic targets from tissue analysis of inflammatory disease patients, which allows for the development of therapies targeting the hallmarks of the disease. The company had recently taken the strategic decision to supplement its internal product generation engine with external innovation, and therefore engaged Alacrita to scout for in-licensing opportunities with a focus on early preclinical or clinical stage assets; inflammatory bowel disease; and assets with a mechanism of action enhancing epithelial barrier function as primary mode of action.

Solution

Alacrita’s activities included:

• Regular attendance at meetings and conferences which were likely to attract new biotech companies in early preclinical or clinical stage of development;
• Scanning of new and recent literature to identify emerging opportunities;
• Searches of grants, deals, and pipeline databases;
• Outreach and networking with biotech and pharma companies, industry contacts, big pharma and licensing professionals and technology transfer offices.

We worked closely with the client’s team to identify important targets and pathways of interest and took an iterative approach to adjust our search criteria, such that they align with client’s evolving interests throughout the engagement. We tracked opportunities in a document that was updated and shared on a weekly basis. Opportunities that Alacrita identified as appropriate for the incubator were delivered on a rolling basis.