Merck, Bristol-Myers license anti-HIV compounds to non-profit for use in poor countries

New York, Oct. 31 - Merck & Co., Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb have licensed antiretroviral compounds to the International Partnership for Microbicides as potential microbicides to protect women from HIV, the partnership said in a news release.

The non-profit group will have a royalty-free license to develop, manufacture and distribute the compounds for use as microbicides in resource-poor countries.

The partnership said the agreement was the "first time a pharmaceutical company has licensed an anti-HIV compound for development as a microbicide when the class of drugs is so early in development.:

Covered are a new class of antiretrovirals known as entry inhibitors. Some of these bind directly to HIV, others bind to the CCR5 receptor. They are designed to prevent HIV from efficiently entering host cells, thus preventing infection.

A study published in this week's Nature will report that entry inhibitor compounds developed by Merck (CMPD 167) and by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS-378806), when used as vaginal microbicides, protected some macaque monkeys from infection with a virus similar to HIV. The research team was led by John Moore of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Ronald Veazey of the Tulane National Primate Research Center, and the study was funded primarily by US National Institutes of Health and other groups.

Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb are providing the International Partnership for Microbicides with royalty-free licenses to these drugs or other closely related compounds.

"These historic agreements mark a turning point in the pharmaceutical industry's commitment to developing a safe and effective microbicide to protect women from HIV," said Dr. Zeda Rosenberg, chief executive officer of the International Partnership for Microbicides, in a news release.

"Merck is proud to contribute the results of our research and development to this worldwide effort to protect women," said Adel Mahmoud, chief medical advisor for vaccines and infectious diseases at Merck, in the release. "This agreement builds on Merck's longstanding work in HIV/AIDS, both through our research and development of new anti-HIV drugs and candidate vaccines, and through public-private partnerships such as our program with the government of Botswana and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation."

"We take our responsibility as a corporate citizen seriously," added John L. McGoldrick, executive vice president of Bristol-Myers Squibb. "This agreement and other Bristol-Myers Squibb programs, such as our Secure the Future program that is dedicated to helping women and children impacted by AIDS in Africa, demonstrate our company's commitment to help people in developing countries effectively respond to HIV/AIDS."

The International Partnership for Microbicides was established to accelerate the development and accessibility of vaginal microbicides to prevent the transmission of HIV. It receives funding from the governments of Canada, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the European Commission, the Rockefeller and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations and the World Bank.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.