PARIS - Devgen, a small Belgian drug discovery company based in Ghent, has entered into a research collaboration with the Agricultural Products Group of FMC Corporation, of Philadelphia, aimed at discovering novel pesticides.

The agreement calls for Devgen to find new chemical drug leads using its proprietary technology, which is based on Caernorhabditis elegans, a tiny nematode worm considered to be an ideal tool for studying animal cell biology and development. Devgen uses the worm as a live test tube for identifying optimal targets for drug discovery and the mode of action of active compounds. By combining the genetic exploitation of C. elegans with the techniques of biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, and high-throughput screening, Devgen is able to identify new therapeutic leads.

As CEO Thierry Bogaert pointed out, while Devgen developed its technology platform for drug discovery, "it can also be applied with great efficiency to the new challenges of molecular, target-based pesticide discovery."

For the research and development director of FMC's Chicago-based Agricultural Products Group (APG), David Simcox, the deal offers the possibility of discovering "pesticides with novel mechanisms of action. Devgen's genomics and screening technology will leverage our investment in biochemical screening and increase our success rate and efficiency in the discovery process."

Devgen will deliver the mechanism of action for FMC's active pesticide leads and new pesticide target sites. In addition, Devgen will perform in vivo, high-throughput screening of these targets using FMC's chemical library. The right to develop and market products arising from this collaboration will be divided between the two companies, with FMC having exclusivity in non-human uses and Devgen in human uses. Devgen will receive R&D funding and product development milestone payments from FMC, as well as royalties on product sales.`

While unable to disclose the potential value of the agreement, Bogaert told BioWorld International this was a "big deal, with very healthy milestones." To give some idea of its importance, he pointed out that one-quarter of the company's 40-odd scientific staff was working on the program.

Devgen, which was founded in 1997 and has a total workforce of 52, completed a private funding round in late October that netted it euro23 million (US$24.4 million). The company was set up with seed capital of $2 million, and a year ago it raised $6.5 million in an initial funding round. Its shareholders now include the venture capital funds Abingworth, Advent, Biotech Fund Flanders, GIMV, Life Sciences Partners and Rendex, as well as three institutional investors - KBC Bank and Insurance Group, ING Group and Mercator Noordstar.

Its strategy is to identify targets and lead compounds for in-house research programs directed at specific diseases, while making its technology platform available to corporate partners. Its own research programs are focused on diabetes, cardiovascular disease (and calcium regulation), apoptosis and kidney disease. It aims to identify compounds for licensing out to pharmaceutical companies. It does not intend to get into drug development itself, which Bogaert thinks is the business of the pharmaceutical industry.

FMC is the second company with which Devgen has signed a collaboration agreement; it already is engaged in a joint research program with Belgium-based Janssen Pharmaceutica focused on oncology and migration-related diseases. It also has research and licensing agreements with 12 research establishments in Europe and the U.S.