Ricerca Biosciences LLC secured an exclusive worldwide license from Genset SA to all therapeutic applications that may result from Genset's patent applications covering the full-length genomic sequences of Chlamydia pneumoniae and Chlamydia trachomatis.

The license further advances Concord, Ohio-based Ricerca's transition from strictly a contract research organization to a drug development company. In March, Ricerca licensed the RAP-3 gene from Genset in order to start an oncology program. This latest deal is the beginning of Ricerca's infectious disease program, which will be its other major focus in addition to cancer. (See BioWorld Today, March 13, 2002.)

"This is a unique challenge, because there are so many cases of chlamydia and pneumonia. Particularly in the Third World, the cases are increasing," Annapur Shivakumar, a Ricerca senior scientist, told BioWorld Today.

Paris-based Genset's chairman and CEO, Marc Vasseur, told BioWorld Today the genomic sequence it licensed to Ricerca is "definitely out of the range of what we're doing." Genset is focused on the areas of CNS and metabolic disorders. And it is in the process of being acquired by Serono SA, of Geneva, in a cash deal valued at 1107.4 million.

The genomic sequences, Vasseur said, can be used for vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. The vaccine rights were licensed to Wyeth, then named American Home Products Corp., in August 1998 in a deal valued at $15 million. Genset still holds the rights to diagnostics, but only because it has not yet found an acceptable partner, Vasseur said. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 21, 1998.)

"We are always trying to get value out of our patent portfolio," Vasseur said.

With this latest licensing deal, Ricerca will own rights to all anti-infective drugs developed in the program. Genset will receive an equity position in Ricerca, along with patent issuance and development milestones and royalties from any drugs developed or co-developed by Ricerca. Specific details were not disclosed.

Ricerca's Shivakumar said the "first important step" will be to set up high-throughput assays for chlamydia, which he said is "not like any other microbe. It's intracellular, which means it's going to be difficult."

The next step would be to identify targets to test against Ricerca's compound library to determine if there are any hits, he said.

"First, we are going to concentrate on pneumonia for the time being," he said.

And the time to clinic may be a long one.

"There's lots of groundwork to be done," Shivakumar said. "We are five to six years away from the clinic, and I speak optimistically."

He said that because the diseases are chronic, causing patients to require treatment for long periods of time, Ricerca does not want to develop a drug that is "broad spectrum and kills other microbes," or perhaps creates drug resistance. Ricerca wants to pinpoint genes that are required and present in pneumonia exclusively or in trachomatis, Shivakumar said.

"We want to come up with something specific for pneumonia or trachomatis, whichever the case may be," Shivakumar said.

While this deal is the one to launch Ricerca into infectious diseases, it most likely won't be the last deal. Shivakumar said the company is considering several licensing deals in infectious disease and in fungals.

The company has about 225 employees and continues to perform work in its contract research organization business.