Portage 's PPL forms a joint venture with University of Glasgow to develop new peptide therapeutics
Monday, February 05, 2018
Portage Biotech Inc. is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Portage Pharmaceuticals Ltd. ("PPL'), has formed a new joint venture company, Portage Glasgow Limited ("PGL"), incorporated in Scotland, to develop more effectively-targeted drugs to treat chronic conditions including cancer.
PPL will hold controlling interest in PGL.
Portage Pharmaceuticals is providing an undisclosed funding to the new business along with a limited license to its CellPorter™ peptide delivery technology.
The University of Glasgow is providing therapeutic peptides developed through the research of Prof. George Baillie and access to a therapeutic peptide discovery platform.
PGL will focus on the commercialisation of new therapies aimed at disrupting protein-protein interactions (PPI) in disease pathways which give therapeutic benefit. Candidate peptides and PPI targets have already been identified from existing research at the University.
Dr Frank W. Marcoux is a founding Director and the CEO of PGL. He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of Portage Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and has over 25 years of drug development experience in a variety of senior management roles at Pfizer and Parke-Davis, culminating with an eight year tenure as Vice President, Pfizer Global Research and Development.
Professor George Baillie is the academic founding director of the company. He is the Professor of Molecular Pharmacology at the University of Glasgow's Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences and worked for 15 years on publically and privately-funded research in phosphodiesterase enzymes and protein-protein interactions.
Dr. Declan Doogan, CEO of Portage commented, "'This is a great example of a collaboration between commercial drug developers and academic researchers who have the potential to deliver truly cutting edge much needed treatments to patients world wide. I am excited to be associated with this Glasgow based enterprise. "
Dr. Gregory Bailey, Chairman of Portage commented. "Our joint venture with Glasgow is not only part of the evolution of PPL, but also the beginning of the next chapter for Portage Biotech. We are looking for compelling products or companies that our team can add value to. Portage Biotech will be pathology agnostic and will evaluate new companies opportunistically".
