AstraZeneca and Sanofi announced Friday an open innovation model that will see the companies directly exchange 210 000 compounds from their respective proprietary compound libraries. The drugmakers noted that the swap "enhances the chemical diversity of the compound collections of both companies and allows each to screen a broader, more diverse chemical space as the starting point in the search for new small-molecule medicines."
According to AstraZeneca and Sanofi, the companies have selected the compounds to exchange based on differences from those in their own libraries. The parties noted that there are no payments associated with the compound exchange, while each drugmaker can investigate the compounds it receives without restrictions on disease areas.
Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of Innovative Medicines & Early Development at AstraZeneca, said the "highly innovative agreement...will accelerate our ability to identify unique starting points that could become new medicines for patients." Pangalos suggested that there weren't "any risks" in sharing around 10 percent of the company's compound library, even though the two parties directly compete in several disease areas, such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular conditions. The executive added that even if AstraZeneca and Sanofi use the same starting compound against a similar target, the chances of them ending up with the same drug are "next to zero" because they would use different scientific methods.
Steve Rees, who heads screening sciences and sample management at AstraZeneca, noted that the partnership was a "cheap and quick way" of diversifying AstraZeneca's own compound collection. Pangalos indicated that developing the same number of new compounds internally would have cost $250 million, while acquiring them would have cost around $50 million.
Meanwhile, Elias Zerhouni, president of global R&D at Sanofi, remarked "we believe that this collaboration will increase our capacity to deliver innovative solutions that have the potential to add significant medical value and transform lives."
