Wellcome Trust and KU Leuven announce collaboration with Janssen for development of dengue antiviral drugs

The collaboration will build on an existing three-year drug discovery programme at the Rega Institute and the Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3) at KU Leuven, supported by a Wellcome Trust Seeding Drug Discovery Award. This effort resulted in the identification of a series of chemical compounds that are highly potent inhibitors of dengue virus replication. The compounds have a novel mechanism of action, are active against all four serotypes of the dengue virus including clinical isolates, have a high barrier to resistance and have generated proof-of-concept data in animal models.

The alliance with the experienced Janssen Infectious Diseases and Vaccines team (based in Beerse, Belgium) and an additional Seeding Drug Discovery Award from the Wellcome Trust will enable the team to progress the compounds towards a first-in-class drug candidate for the prevention and treatment of infections with dengue virus. At the end of the collaboration period, Janssen will have the option to further develop the candidate drug towards regulatory approval, with the goal of bringing the drug to patients on a global basis.

Under the terms of the agreement, Janssen will make an upfront payment and milestone payments based on achieving development, regulatory and sales goals. KU Leuven is also eligible to receive royalty payments on net sales of future products discovered or developed under the agreement.

Professor Johan Neyts of the Rega Institute, KU Leuven, said: "It was a great experience to work with CD3 and the Wellcome Trust to discover this new class of dengue antivirals, which can be further developed by Janssen as the first potential medication to prevent and treat infections with the dengue virus."

Patrick Chaltin, Managing Director of CD3 at KU Leuven, added: "This agreement again confirms the value of combining excellent academic research with the strengths and capabilities of CD3 for discovering innovative therapies. We are very excited to continue the development of the dengue antivirals together with Janssen and the Wellcome Trust."

Dengue virus is endemic in almost all tropical and subtropical areas of the world. The virus is transmitted by mosquitoes and causes a severe and debilitating fever, rash, and muscle and joint pain, sometimes referred to as 'breakbone fever'. In some cases, infection can lead to internal haemorrhage and can be fatal.

Recent estimates indicate that there may be as many as 390 million dengue infections across the globe each year, of which 96 million develop symptoms associated with the infection; however, there are currently no approved vaccines that can prevent infection or approved drugs that can stop the replication and spread of the dengue virus. Current approaches to treating the condition focus on alleviating symptoms.

Ted Bianco, Director of Technology Transfer and Acting Director of the Wellcome Trust, said: "We urgently need dengue medications that combat the virus rather than the symptoms of infection. This agreement highlights the importance of seed funds, like the awards provided under Seeding Drug Discovery, to reduce the risk of drug discovery programmes so that they become attractive to partners with the ability to bring a product to market.

"We welcome this strategic collaboration, bringing together a world-leading academic drug discovery group and an industry partner with an outstanding track record in the development of antivirals, to give the programme the best possible chances of success."