Sentia Medical Sciences and Neurocrine Biosciences Enter into Strategic Collaboration to Discover Novel CRF Peptides

April 27, 2021

SAN DIEGO, Apr. 26, 2021 – Sentia Medical Sciences Inc. today announced that they have entered into a research collaboration with Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: NBIX) aimed at discovering novel, long-acting corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) receptor antagonist peptide therapeutics. The collaboration will leverage Sentia’s proprietary peptide-based platform and Neurocrine’s drug development expertise in CRF biology to develop and commercialize medicines with the potential to treat a variety of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis modulated diseases.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sentia will provide to Neurocrine an exclusive license to existing preclinical CRF receptor antagonist peptide compounds. Additionally, Sentia and Neurocrine will work together to discover novel peptide antagonists targeting CRF and advance them to development candidate stage, after which Neurocrine would be solely responsible for all further development, manufacturing, regulatory and commercial activities. As part of the collaboration, Sentia will receive an up-front payment and committed research funding from Neurocrine to support discovery efforts. Sentia is eligible to receive milestone and royalty payments based on products developed from this collaboration. 

“Neurocrine Biosciences is the perfect company to partner with on our proprietary peptide CRF platform given their long-standing leadership in endocrinology and the CRF field,” said Dominic P. Behan, Ph.D., D.Sc., Chief Executive Officer of Sentia Medical Sciences. “This important collaboration advances Sentia’s mission of becoming a world leader in the development of novel peptide therapeutics to manage HPA axis driven diseases.”

“We are eager to partner with Sentia Medical Sciences on their proprietary peptide CRF platform which is highly complementary with our long-standing interest and expertise in understanding CRF biology and the role it plays in a variety of disease states,” said Dimitri E. Grigoriadis, Ph.D., Chief Research Officer of Neurocrine Biosciences. 

About Sentia Medical Sciences

Sentia Medical Sciences Inc. is a privately held company with a vision to be a world leader in the development of novel peptide therapeutics to manage and cure stress-related diseases (www.sentiamedical.com).