Example Of GPCR Deals In This Space and don't shout in the title please.

British biotech Heptares snapped up by Japan's Sosei in $400m deal

By Denise Roland
4:48PM GMT 23 Feb 2015

Heptares, a biotech company spun out of publically funded research in the UK, has been acquired by Japanese pharmaceutical company Sosei in a deal worth up to $400m (£259m).

Heptares is developing a string of drugs using a technology which can determine the precise shape of the target molecule, originally developed in the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Its most advanced drug, which aims to treat Alzheimer's, recently entered human trials.

It will receive $180m upfront from Sosei, with further payments totalling $220m at particular drug development milestones.

The Hertfordshire-based group's research and development activities and 72 employees will stay put, and Heptares will operate as an autonomous subsidiary to Sosei.

Its chief executive Dr Malcolm Weir will remain at the helm of the Heptares division while also becoming chief research and development officer at Sosei. Under that role he will oversee all of Sosei's R&D activity outside of Japan.

Heptares is developing a number of drugs using this technology, all of which target a family of receptor molecules known as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). These types of receptors are found on the surface of every type of human cell, and are often involved in key processes, making them useful drug targets.

It has also struck a series of deals in which it will use its technology to develop drugs against certain targets on behalf of Big Pharma, including AstraZeneca and Novartis. It has already made more than $30m in licensing fees from these deals.

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