OXFORD: e-therapeutics plc has entered a collaboration agreement with Galapagos NV to identify new therapeutic approaches to modulate a specific mechanism involved in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and potentially in other fibrotic indications.

e-therapeutics will continue to be free to explore, both internally and with additional partners, all other pathways involved in IPF and fibrosis.

This collaboration combines e-therapeutics’ expertise in network biology and in silico phenotypic screening with Galapagos’ deep knowledge of IPF and fibrosis. e-therapeutics will apply its proprietary Network-driven Drug Discovery (NDD) platform and know-how to identify new strategies to modulate a specific pathway of interest to Galapagos, selecting potentially clinically relevant compounds for the treatment of IPF and fibrosis.

As part of the collaboration, e-therapeutics will be responsible for all computational activities and Galapagos will perform all experimental testing.

In the United States, 30-40,000 cases of IPF are diagnosed each year. IPF is associated with a progressive loss of lung function and median survival without therapy is limited to between two and three years. Currently available treatments slow disease progression but prognosis remains poor and IPF is the leading cause of lung transplantation.

There is a high unmet need for novel and well-tolerated agents able to reduce lung function decline and improve and prolong patients’ lives. Other fibrotic conditions, such as those affecting the liver or the kidneys, affect a significant proportion of the population worldwide and also represent urgent medical needs.

Ali Mortazavi, Executive Chairman of e-therapeutics, commented: “We look forward to working with Galapagos on this project in areas of clear unmet medical need such as IPF and fibrosis. This collaboration provides additional validation of our platform and its applications in drug discovery and development. Our platform is scalable and can be applied to all areas of biology, providing an engine for diverse drug discovery projects and enabling us to help partners in numerous ways. This is our third collaboration with a leading biopharmaceutical company, and we remain in business development discussions for both NDD and our functional genomics platform, GAINs.”

e-therapeutics is an Oxford, UK-based company with a unique and powerful computer-based approach to drug discovery, founded on our industry-leading expertise in network biology.