MitoKor Strengthens Discovery Capability by Acquiring Mimotopes Pty.
The deal is an example of a private U.S. biotechnology firm going global in its search to find the right management and technology to improve its financial viability make itself more attractive to potential biotechnology and pharmaceutical partners.
With its focus on mitochondrial biology, drug discovery, and chemistry, MitoKor envisions forming a continuing series of research and development (R&D) alliances with biotechnology and pharmaceutical partners. Mimotopes will continue to sell its peptide products, proprietary kits, and reagents to pharmaceutical and biotechnology researchers through its direct sales force and worldwide network of distributors. Mimotopes will also continue to collaborate with major pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies in technology development and drug discovery programs. The combined entity will employ over 100 people and will have annual revenues exceeding $10 million.
"Mimotopes' state-of-the-art chemistry resources combined with MitoKor's unique mitochondrial biology platform should provide a rich pipeline of small molecule drug candidates, both for partnering and internal development," said Walter Moos, chairman and CEO of MitoKor.
"While at Chiron, Walter Moos and I, together with our colleagues, built the Mimotopes subsidiary into a world-class research enterprise and a profitable business," explained Ron Deane, managing director of Mimotopes. "We look forward to building an even more successful program in the coming years."
Mitochondria and Disease
During evolution, our ancestral cells formed a working relationship with an independent bacterium-like organism. This relationship allowed cells to produce energy efficiently from glucose and oxygen and store this energy in the form of high-energy phosphate bonds of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). This relationship continues in all modern mammalian cells as well as most other eukaryotic organisms. Descendants of this independent progenitor organism are known today as mitochondria.
As a remnant of its past life, each mitochondrion contains a "private" set of genes that possess the genetic blueprint for the production of proteins and other molecules critical to the process of cellular energy production. Moreover, these proteins are important in maintaining mitochondrial, and thus cellular, health. The consequences of faulty mitochondria can be devastating at the cellular, tissue, and organismal levels.
Mitochondria appear to be "time bombs" ticking away within all of our cells. If we live long enough, these bombs may detonate, contributing to one of a number of late-onset diseases. As a secondary consequence, mitochondrial dysfunction can decrease the capacity of cells to buffer intracellular calcium levels and can increase the susceptibility of a cell carrying an electron transport chain defect to undergo apoptosis. Severe deficits in mitochondrial function inevitably lead to cellular failure and perhaps death, particularly in highly energetic cells such as neurons and muscle.
About the Companies
Mimotopes is a research service and supply company offering combinatorial chemistry and custom manufacture of chemical compounds, peptides, and related materials and kits. Originally formed in the mid-1980s as a spin-off from the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, Mimotopes was acquired by Chiron Corp. in 1991. The company has distinguished itself as an early innovator of combinatorial chemistry techniques for drug discovery and as one of the world's largest manufacturers of custom peptides, peptidomimetics, and small molecule libraries.
Fire drill? No, MitoKor employees posing outside their company's San Diego headquarters.
MitoKor, which focuses on drugs that target mitochondria and their functions in cells, is developing drug candidates and diagnostics for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Type 2 diabetes. MitoKor's blood-based diagnostic test can predict 50% of all Alzheimer's cases. MitoKor has established core competencies in mitochondrial and nuclear proteomics and genomics, disease modeling and pharmacogenomics, as well as drug discovery and diagnostic development technologies. MitoKor has an R&D agreement with Pfizer, a license agreement with SRL, Inc. of Japan, and a research collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.
For more information: Thomas Sanders, Vice President, Business Development, MitoKor, 11494 Sorrento Valley Rd., San Diego, CA 92121. Tel. 858-793-7800. Fax 858-793-7805.
Angelo DePalma