The Basel-based pharmaceutical company Novartis has entered into a collaboration with the Canadian biopharmaceutical company Parvus Therapeutics. The agreement will give Novartis exclusive worldwide rights to a lead nanomedicine for type 1 diabetes.
Parvus Therapeutics developed the Navacim technology. It is based on nanoparticles coated with disease-relevant peptide-major histocompatibility complexes that alter the behavior of disease-causing T lymphocyte cells.
According to a Parvus statement, Navacim is the first biopharmaceutical product to demonstrate in preclinical models the ability to restore immune tolerance to a specific disease through in vivo formation, without affecting the general immune system.
Novartis has now secured the exclusive worldwide rights to use Parvus’ Navacim technology to develop and market products for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. While Novartis will be responsible for clinical development under the terms of the agreement, Parvus will continue the preclinical work.
Further to its upfront payment, Novartis will financially support this work. Novartis has also made an equity investment in Parvus Therapeutics.
