VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue and cell therapy, and Synterys, Inc., a medicinal chemistry and collaborative drug discovery company, today jointly announced a strategic medicinal chemistry services agreement signed between the two companies. The collaboration will further VistaGen’s stem cell technology-based drug rescue initiatives with the support of Synterys’ medicinal chemistry expertise.
VistaGen’s drug rescue activities involve the combination of its human pluripotent stem cell technology platform, Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube™, with modern medicinal chemistry to generate new chemical variants (drug rescue variants) of once-promising small molecule drug candidates that pharmaceutical companies, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) or university laboratories discontinued during preclinical development due to toxicity issues. VistaGen’s drug rescue model leverages prior investment and preclinical development completed by others as well as the predictive toxicology and drug development capabilities of its stem cell technology platform.
“Our collaboration with Synterys directly supports the drug rescue applications of our Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube™ platform,” stated Shawn Singh, VistaGen’s Chief Executive Officer. “This strategic collaboration represents another important link in the ecosystem we are building around our cutting-edge technologies and innovations from industry and academia focused on transforming drug development.”
“After evaluating several high quality candidates, we are happy to have selected Synterys as the medicinal chemistry partner of choice for our drug rescue programs,” added Ralph Snodgrass, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of VistaGen. “Synterys’ scientists bring significant experience in medicinal and synthetic organic chemistry to our collaboration, as well as the skills and infrastructure necessary to drive our programs forward successfully and cost effectively.”
“We are very pleased to be entering into this collaborative relationship with VistaGen,” commented John Kincaid, Synterys’ founder. “Our company anticipates great success to result from the combination of VistaGen’s stem cell technology platform and our decades of combined experience advancing compounds from early preclinical development into human clinical trials.”
In addition to providing flexible, real-time medicinal chemistry services in support of VistaGen’s drug rescue programs, the new agreement anticipates collaborations through which VistaGen and Synterys will identify novel drug rescue opportunities and drive them through preclinical development.
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