Download UCT and Celgene Global Health Announce Strategic Collaboration

22 April 2014
UCT and Celgene Global Health Announce Strategic
Collaboration to Fight Tuberculosis to Benefit Patients
Celgene teams up with South African H3-D drug discovery and development
centre to advance scientific and clinical research to help patients with
tuberculosis
The H3-D Drug Discovery and Development Centre at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in
South Africa and Celgene Global Health (CGH), a Division of Celgene Corporation, a global
biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and delivers disease-altering medical
innovation for patients in need with cancer and immunology and inflammatory diseases,
have joined efforts to identify and to develop next-generation life-enhancing medicines for
patients with tuberculosis (TB).
The main goal of this joint drug discovery programme, which was officially launched at the
beginning of April 2014, is to identify novel drugs for the treatment of TB. Under the
collaborative agreement, Celgene will provide H3-D with compounds that target TB, and H3D scientists will optimise these compounds to deliver pre-clinical candidates suitable for
testing in humans. The work will be funded by a grant from Celgene.
“This agreement is an accurate reflection of how Celgene lives its commitment to improving
the lives of patients worldwide every day,” said Dr Jerome B. Zeldis, CEO of Celgene Global
Health. “We are very pleased to initiate the collaboration with H3-D so that new medicines
for the treatment of TB might be developed.” This is one of a number of strategic
collaborations that CGH is establishing to address the urgent needs of patients who are
affected by illnesses common to low income settings.
Working on a potential novel cure for TB is not the only benefit of this new relationship. The
collaboration with H3-D will significantly enhance drug discovery and development
capabilities in South Africa. It will help to create a new generation of drug discovery
scientists by allowing the recruitment of international scientists with experience and local
scientists to work side by side.
H3-D has the capabilities to attract the interest of large international biotechnology
companies. Professor Kelly Chibale, Director of UCT’s H3-D, said: “This collaboration with a
major US biotech company reinforces the major steps that drug discovery has taken at UCT
in the last couple of years, building on the success of the H3-D/Medicines for Malaria
Venture (MMV) project. It endorses UCT as one of the top places in the world to do TB drug
discovery.”
This agreement is another significant step for H3-D. Together with its announced
partnerships with the global healthcare company Novartis in 2013 and the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation in 2014, the centre continues to grow drug discovery capabilities to
identify clinical candidates for diseases relevant to Africa.
About UCT’s H3-D
H3-D was founded at UCT in 2010 and officially opened its doors in April 2011, with the goal
of creating the leading drug discovery and development platform in Africa. Under the
scientific leadership of Professor Chibale, the group has been active in TB drug discovery for
several years. It currently comprises 22 scientific staff members in the areas of medicinal
chemistry, in vitro biology as well as Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics. Located in
Cape Town, South Africa, H3-D is the first drug discovery centre in Africa with an initial
focus on TB and malaria, two top medical needs on the continent. Last year, the first
compound developed by H3-D was approved by MMV as a clinical anti-malarial candidate.
H3-D has the necessary infrastructure to conduct integrated hit-to-lead and leadoptimisation TB projects. The centre works closely with the Molecular Mycobacteriology
Research Unit at UCT under the leadership of Professor Valerie Mizrahi and Dr Digby
Warner, as well as other groups around South Africa with TB expertise. In addition to
scientific expertise, H3-D also has access to the UCT Clinical Research Centre (CRC) which is
under the directorship of Professor Gregory Hussey. The CRC has capabilities for all phases
of clinical development, including a recently established capability for Phase 1 first-in-man
studies.
In addition to support from international pharmaceutical companies and philanthropic
organisations, H3-D is supported by the South African government’s Department of Science
and Technology (DST) through the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), as well as the
country’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through the Technology and Human
Resource for Industry Programme (THRIP). Professor Chibale is a full member of the
Institute for Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) at UCT, and his research
group is a South African Medical Research Council (MRC) extramural research unit at UCT.
About Celgene and Celgene Global Health
Celgene Corporation, headquartered in Summit, New Jersey, is an integrated global
biopharmaceutical company engaged primarily in the discovery, development and
commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases
through gene and protein regulation. Celgene Global Health (CGH), a Division of Celgene
Corporation, collaborates with partners around the globe to find innovative solutions for
healthcare challenges in the developing world. For more information, please visit
www.celgene.com.
ENDS
Media enquiries:
Patricia Lucas
University of Cape Town
Tel: +27 21 650 5428
Mobile: +27 76 292 8047
Email: [email protected]