Sosei Heptares Announces the First Phase I Clinical Start From Its Multi-target Drug Discovery Collaboration With Pfizer

- Dosing of first subject in clinical trial by Pfizer triggers $5 million payment to Sosei Heptares

- Clinical development candidate is an oral, small molecule modulator of an undisclosed G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) target

TOKYO and LONDON, Dec. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sosei Group Corporation ("the Company") (TSE: 4565) has been notified by its strategic alliance partner Pfizer that it has dosed the first subject in a clinical trial with a new drug candidate nominated from the multi-target drug discovery collaboration between the two companies. Achievement of this milestone triggers a payment of $5 million to Sosei Heptares. This candidate was nominated for advancement by Pfizer in May 2019 generating at that time a $3 million milestone payment.  

Dr. Malcolm Weir, Executive Vice President, Research & Early Development at Sosei Heptares, said: "The productivity of our collaboration with Pfizer has been gathering real momentum in 2019 based on the synergy of the expert teams within both organizations. We are excited with this latest milestone, which sees the first candidate from this collaboration enter clinical trials. This excellent progress is also reflected more broadly across our other internal and partnered programs where it demonstrates the power of our approach to deliver molecules targeting challenging GPCRs across multiple disease areas to partners."

Charlotte Allerton, Head of Medicine Design at Pfizer said: "We are pleased with the progress achieved through our collaboration with Sosei Heptares. Sosei Heptares' GPCR-focused structure-based drug design provides us with a valuable approach to potentially enable the design of small molecules that may modulate important disease targets."

About the agreement with Pfizer

Sosei Heptares and Pfizer entered a multi-target drug discovery collaboration in November 2015 to research and develop potential new medicines directed at up to ten GPCR targets across multiple therapeutic areas. Many of these targets have clinical or biological validation as key points for therapeutic intervention potentially targeting a range of diseases but have proven difficult to address with conventional discovery approaches because of inherent technical challenges.

To address these challenges, Sosei Heptares and Pfizer scientists are working closely together to leverage their respective complementary expertise in enabling GPCR-focused structure-based drug design (SBDD) and development initially directed to the GPCR targets selected by Pfizer. Pfizer will be responsible for developing and commercialising any potential therapeutic agents (small molecules or biologics) for each target and will have exclusive global rights to any potential resulting agents.

Sosei Heptares has delivered multiple stabilized receptors (StaR® proteins), X-ray structures and biophysical data on certain programs, triggering milestone payments from Pfizer, including the US$5 million announced today, as well as $3 million each in May and June 2019, resulting from the nomination of new clinical candidates and entry into a first clinical trial. Further possible milestones payments are contemplated under the agreement, with potential for royalties also payable provided the criteria under the agreement are satisfied.

Pfizer also made a US$33 million equity investment in Sosei Heptares in 2015. In the future, Pfizer and Sosei Heptares anticipate publication of select research findings from their collaboration.

About Sosei Heptares

We are an international biopharmaceutical group focused on the discovery and early development of new medicines originating from our proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR® technology and structure-based drug design platform capabilities. We are advancing a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including CNS, immuno-oncology, gastroenterology, inflammation and other rare/specialty indications.

We have established partnerships with some of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, including Allergan, AstraZeneca, Daiichi-Sankyo, Genentech (Roche), Novartis, Pfizer and Takeda; and with innovative biotechnology companies, including Kymab, MorphoSys and PeptiDream. Sosei Heptares is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with R&D facilities in Cambridge, UK.

"Sosei Heptares" is the corporate brand of Sosei Group Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565). Sosei, Heptares, the logo and StaR® are Trade Marks of Sosei Group companies.

For more information, please visit https://www.soseiheptares.com.
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Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Sosei Group Corporation's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Enquiries:
Sosei Heptares 
Shinichiro Nishishita ? VP Investor Relations
+81-(0)3-5210-3399 | [email protected]

Candelle Chong ? VP Corporate Strategy and Communications 
+44-(0)1223-949-392 | [email protected]

Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Yas Fukuda ? Japanese Media
+81-(3)-4360-9241 | [email protected]

Mark Swallow, David Dible ? International Media
+44-(0)20-7638-9571 | [email protected]