Lonza acquires access to PCA technology patent portfolio

Mar 10 2010

Odyssey Thera, Inc., announced today the signing of an agreement with Lonza to make Odyssey Thera's proprietary Protein-fragment Complementation Assay (PCA) technology, as part of compound profiling services, available to life science and drug discovery researchers.

Additionally, Odyssey Thera has granted to Lonza an option to certain exclusive global technology licenses. The companies have also initiated collaborative technology, product development and marketing activities. Under terms of the agreement, Odyssey Thera will receive an equity investment and technology development funding, and is eligible to receive additional payments upon option exercise as well as milestones and royalties on Lonza sales. With the equity investment Lonza has become a minority shareholder in Odyssey Thera and joins a distinguished group of investors including Pfizer Inc. and Merck and Co.

Odyssey Thera has established the dominant worldwide intellectual property position in Protein-fragment Complementation Assays, encompassing 16 issued US and international patents and over 60 applications in prosecution. PCA enables a precise visualization and localization of protein complexes within living human cells. A key benefit of the technology is the applicability to any target, pathway, or disease process. Odyssey Thera has created hundreds of contextual cellular assays, an infrastructure to analyze and mine the data, and a high-value database of known drug and toxicant cellular activity. When new targets or drugs are screened on the platform, their mechanisms and safety issues are identified, allowing critical decisions to be made with confidence at an early stage of the development process.

"Odyssey Thera has created unique strategies for analyzing cellular targets in their native context and for expediting drug development. Our partnerships with top-tier pharmaceutical companies have validated the approach," said John Westwick, Ph.D., President and CEO of Odyssey. "The alliance with Lonza will accelerate technology development while driving commercialization of our PCA-based tools and services. Working with Lonza's industry-leading capabilities in primary cell culture, transfection and marketing creates an excellent growth opportunity for both companies."

"Access to the PCA technology patent portfolio enables Lonza to expand its product and service offering for drug discovery and safety testing. We are excited by the product pipeline that this alliance gives Lonza and look forward to contributing to the further development of Odyssey's unique technology," said Teun van der Heide, Ph.D., Head of Research Solutions at Lonza.